Lost Around You
by MikoGoddess
Summary: The Chaos Gem is a mysterious jewel that Daisuke must steal, but not even Satoshi knows of its true power. When Dark and Krad disappear, and Daisuke starts acting strangely, the class cruise gets a lot more interesting... SatoDai shounenai
1. A normal day

Disclaimer: checks list of things owned lessee…volumes 1,2, and 3…..nope, no copyrights.

A/N: (this might be kinda long…) Okay, it's been a while since I've been to or posted anything. (The whole C2 thing is definitely new.) And all of my other fics were for Inuyasha, but now I've decided to write one for D.N. Angel.

This is my first attempt at a yaoi, and it's actually a bit weird for me. I've only recently come to sort of like yaoi, but only with certain people…and in certain situations. Hehe, I was bored one day, and I was like, "I think I'm going to read a sato/dai fic" And while reading it I was like, "this is so weird! But it's cute! But it's weird! But it's cute!" and about 13 of them later, I finally decided on it being kind of cute. So yeah, that puts me where I am now…writing this story. I've always been sort of awkward at the romance thing, so bear with me. And since I've found out a friend of mine is gay; it's put a different perspective on things. Especially since he wrote an 'essay' (as he calls it) on love and such. It sort of gets to you…(he's a great writer)

(And if Lizzy ever reads this she's going to freak out…and if you're reading this Lizzy….Please don't kill me! ) Oh yeah, and I've only read through volume 4, (since I'm broke . ) and since I don't own 4, I don't know it to well, so I also know pretty much nothing about Krad. Therefore this fic will be minimally about Krad, and mostly about Satoshi and Daisuke (though recent developments of ideas have more involvement with Dark and possibly Krad than I had originally intended.)

**Warnings:** shounen-ai stuff. Duh. If you don't like it, don't read it. All flames will be promptly ignored, or vehemently responded to with a counter-flame of my own. And with that….enjoy

'thoughts'

_Dark speaking_

'_Daisuke speaking to Dark_'

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Lost Around You

Prologue: Love

What is love?

Can you honestly come up with a tangible answer to this question? The heart and soul are the most mysterious part of a person. Not the physical heart, but the one referred to when we speak of love, or emotion. These two incomprehensible pieces in the puzzle that makes up a human being, are what decide our every thought and emotion, and what defines us as the very being we grow to become.

So when you ask, 'What is love', would you say that it's a feeling given to you by your heart? But then you stop and think, how can you define such an abstract object? How do you know when and if you're in love? Where do you draw the line after friendship?

Love is unpredictable. It finds you in the most unexpected, and sometimes most unwanted of places. The phrase 'Love hurts' is only too true at the best of times. Society has created it's own idealistic views about what love is supposed to be. The most religious of people will say that love is when a man and woman are attracted to each other and then get married. But since when was it the god-given right of mankind to decide what love is, and what love should be? When did it become up to mankind to decide who should love, and how they should do it?

The heart does not know, nor does it care about rules written down in a book, or set forth by one whose only importance is their status. The heart will choose whom or what it loves, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Nothing you can do to stop that feeling you get when that special person comes near you, as your heartbeat quickens, and your stomach turns over with nervousness and excitement.

There is nothing you can do to stop the incessant feeling and ever-waiting presence we know as 'love'.

Chapter 1: a normal day

It was another normal day for the boy known as Daisuke Niwa. Or at least, as normal as it could be for a boy raised to become a thief, and whom has an, 'alter-ego' inside of him that he transforms into whenever he has romantic thoughts about the person he loves.

Okay, so with Daisuke, no day is ever normal. But as close as he can get is a day where he is not being forced to prepare a museum's security systems for a pre-planned, and pre-notated theft. Or where he has to fight a genius detective that also happens to go to school with him.

Beep! Beep! Be--

Daisuke mumbled incoherently as he slammed his fist down on the annoying alarm clock, effectively shutting it off. Effectively breaking it in fact. He hadn't meant to, he was just to tired to constrain his motions well, and ended letting his arm fall with more force than originally intended.

His eyes opened wide as he heard the 'Crunch' as the alarm cracked. He blinked at it for a couple of seconds, and shook his head, deciding to ignore the fact that that had just happened. He yawned and stretched, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and got up to prepare for school. He opened his blinds, and squinted as the bright sun attacked his eyes, then went off for a quick morning shower to wake himself up.

"Dai sweetieee! Breakfast is ready!" Daisuke heard his mom yell as he dried his hair with a towel.

"Coming!" He quickly combed his hair, not that it did much good as it refused to take any form other than a spiky mass of red, and ran down the stairs to the kitchen. He inhaled deeply as the scent of toast, eggs and bacon reached his nose. He sat down eagerly at the table and picked up a fork. "Itadakimasu!" he exclaimed, then dove into the plate set in front of him.

Emiko smiled and shook her head. "You're going to choke eating like that"

"Shawy mom" he muttered through a mouthful. Then he swallowed "They're announcing the school trip today." He finished devouring his food.

"No wonder…" she said thoughtfully as she started cleaning up dishes. Daisuke always was an excitable boy, it was only natural he would be anxious about this too.

Daisuke put his empty plate in the sink, dashed upstairs to get his backpack, shouted a goodbye to his mom, and ran out the door toward school. When he was halfway to the school, he spotted a blue-headed figure walking in front of him sipping a cup of coffee. "Oi! Sato-kun!" he yelled upon seeing his classmate.

Satoshi stopped and turned around as Daisuke trotted up to him with a large grin on his face. Satoshi smiled slightly in return. There was something about the kid's smile that was infectious. "Someone's happy this morning." he said as Daisuke stood panting, hands on his knees; he had been running since he left his house. Then Satoshi blinked as he realized what he'd just been addressed as. "Since when did you start calling me Sato?"

Daisuke blinked and shrugged. "Dunno. Just sounded right. You don't…mind do you?"

Satoshi pondered it for a few seconds, then shook his head. "Not really." He took a sip of his coffee and began walking again, Daisuke stepping happily by his side. "Why are you so happy today? Er…more than usual that is." He asked as Daisuke started humming a random tune.

Daisuke thought about it for a bit. "Well, first off, they're giving us all the info about the class trip today…"

"Ah yes, some sort of cruise, isn't it?"

Daisuke nodded happily. "And then I've got a date tonight with Riku!"

"So you've finally asked her out then?" Satoshi asked with a seemingly less caring attitude than before.

Daisuke paused a moment at Satoshi's sudden cold tone. Then brushed it aside as normal Satoshi behavior. "Ah, well…she isn't my official girlfriend yet, but I'm gonna ask her soon." He said with resolve.

_haha_! _Yeah right. You've been saying that for 2 weeks._

Daisuke jumped when Dark started talking. "Don't scare me like that!" he said aloud.

Satoshi looked over confused. "Scare you like what?"

"Ah…" Daisuke blushed. "Sorry, Dark just popped up out of nowhere. He surprised me."

"I see." Satoshi answered with an amused smile. Daisuke was cute when he was flustered. Satoshi sighed and shook his head. He needed to stop that. He wasn't sure exactly when he'd started thinking such things about Daisuke. He knew he was never really attracted to girls, but he just thought it was because he hadn't found the right one. Then when he met Daisuke, he started to realize why, and started to feel an attraction to the boy that went beyond friendship. Daisuke was, of course, entirely oblivious to Satoshi's thoughts; and he intended to keep it that way, especially as long as Daisuke liked Riku so much.

The rest of the walk to school went pretty quietly, Satoshi occasionally taking a sip of coffee, and Daisuke making random comments about things most people wouldn't think twice about. Daisuke studied the taller boy beside him. It was really weird how they had come to be friends, or how they were still friends now. What with the whole situation with Dark, and more recently Krad, it was amazing they hadn't killed each other yet, much less the fact they could be walking together like this. They were best friends and worst enemies at the same time.

"Something you wanted to say?" Satoshi asked, not even looking over at Daisuke. He could sense his thoughtful gaze. Just part of being a detective; always be aware of your surroundings, and know what's going on around you.

Daisuke jumped. He hadn't realized he'd been staring, he'd just sort of…spaced out. "Er…nothing, sorry." He looked up and noticed they were at the school. He saw Riku sitting on the entrance steps. She waved to him excitedly, clutching a piece of paper in her hand.

"Daisuke!" She ran up to him, waving a test in front of his face. "I did it! I passed!" she exclaimed.

Daisuke laughed and congratulated her. The test she was holding was one that he had helped her study for recently. "Come on! Let's go!" she said, tugging on Daisuke's arm. "They've called an assembly to give us the details about the trip."

Daisuke nodded and followed, then turned back to Satoshi. "You coming?" he asked.

Satoshi shook his head. "I'll be in there later. I want to finish this first." He said, indicating his coffee cup. Though that was a lie; he had finished it a couple minutes ago. He just felt rather out of place when he was with the two of them. Like the odd man out. He watched the two as they chatted happily until they were through the door. He threw his coffee cup into the nearest garbage can, and made his way to the auditorium as well, though he wasn't near as interested as the rest of the people gathering anxiously in the large room. He found a place in the back to stand and blend in with the woodwork.

Daisuke however was bounding around as much as the next person. "Daisuke!" Daisuke turned as Takeshi called for him. He walked up and grabbed Daisuke in a headlock and ruffled his hair.

"Ugh….Takeshi. Geroff me." He said into the slightly larger boy's side, pushing him away. The people around them laughed. Then the principle's voice came over the speakers.

"Alright everyone, take a seat, I know you're all excited, but it's time to start." There was a lot of shuffling and excited murmuring as everyone took a seat and whispered their own comments about the trip. Once everyone had become silent- so much so you could've heard a pin drop- the principle started again. "As I'm sure you all know, we will be going on a cruise. This cruise will last for four days, and will stop at a lovely island resort where we will stay for another four before coming back home. I've got all sorts of events planned, so be sure to come prepared for fun! " She said excitedly as the murmur of voices began to rise again. She waited for it to get quiet, then started up again. "Your homeroom teachers will be giving you further details, and your room assignments will be given to you as well. You are dismissed." There was another bustle of movement and noise as all the students got up to return to their classrooms.

"It's a really long one this year." Riku said thoughtfully as she walked beside Daisuke and Takeshi. The boys nodded.

"It's sorta like two vacations in one." Takeshi added. "Way cool."

"Yeah it is. This is so exciting." Riku said, bouncing up and down.

_Wonder if there's anything good to steal at an island resort?_

Daisuke smiled. '_Dark, is that all you ever think about?' _

_Well, I am the 'phantom thief'. It's my job to think about things to steal._

Daisuke rolled his eyes. '_Right, of course, I forgot. But this is my vacation. I have no intention of turning it into a big event, or being chased by the police. Which means no appearances from Dark.'_

_Awww, you're no fun. _Dark pouted.

Daisuke laughed inwardly. '_We have very different ideals about what fun is'._

"Hey Riku!" The small group looked over as Risa came up to them in the hallways, weaving her way past a mob of chattering students to get to them. "Come here, I need to talk to you." She grabbed her twin's wrist and ran back through the halls, leaving the two boys standing there with confused expressions. They decided to chalk it up to the fact that, 'girls will be girls', and returned to their homeroom class.

Daisuke wasn't surprised when he saw Satoshi already sitting in his seat, notebook in hand, chewing on the end of his pen thoughtfully. He looked up and briefly caught Daisuke's eyes, his face expressionless, and then bent back down and scribbled something in the little black book.

_What do you think he writes in that book? _Dark questioned. Daisuke shrugged.

Dark snickered. _Tuesday, 8:20 am, Daisuke looked at me!_ He said in a mocking tone, and Daisuke rolled his eyes, but flushed slightly. That was a rather awkward thought.

Five minutes of chaos later (involving much talking, one slapped face, and three paper airplanes) the teacher walked into the classroom, seemingly oblivious to the class' misconduct. "Alright class!" the young teacher chirped happily. She adjusted her half-moon glasses on her nose, and shuffled through a few papers, finally pulling out a worn clipboard. "Here we are." She muttered more to herself than to the class. "Okay, I have taken the liberty of putting some numbers into two separate hats." She said as she pulled out said hats from under her desk. "One is for the girls, and the other for the boys. Each of you will come up and draw a number. The person who draws the same number as you will be your partner for the trip. We will be working with a buddy system, and at the resort, I don't want any of you to wander off alone, got that?" she gazed over the class with a serious expression, daring anyone to call that idea stupid. When no one said anything, she smiled and continued. "Your partner will be your bus seat partner, and your roommate both on the ship and at the lodge."

A girl near the back raised her hand. "Ano, sensei, can't we choose our own partners?"

The teacher smiled and shook her head. "I thought this would be a great opportunity for you all to get better acquainted with your fellow classmates." She said happily.

The girl sighed in defeat and slumped back in her chair. There was no arguing with that teacher once she put that smile on her face.

"Any more questions?" The teacher looked around the room? "No? Well then, I'll come around with the hats, and you will each draw a number." And with that she began to walk around the room, switching hats when she would come across the opposite gender. When she came to Daisuke, he pulled out a number 7. He silently prayed that he would at least end up with someone he knew.

When everyone in the class had drawn a slip of paper from the hat, she walked back to the front of the classroom, clipboard in hand. "Now then, when I call out a number, I want those of you who drew that number to raise their hands, and I'll write your name down here. Okay, number one?"

Risa and the girl who had asked the question earlier raised their hands, and the teacher wrote their names on the first line of the clipboard. And so it went…until "Number seven?"

Daisuke timidly raised his hand into the air. He looked around the room, and when he finally found the other hand, his eyes widened in surprise. "Niwa Daisuke…" the teacher said, jotting down his name. "And…

Hiwatari Satoshi.

Satoshi looked over, and could've laughed at Daisuke's expression. It was priceless. Then when the boy spaced out, he could only guess what sort of conversation he was having with Dark within the recesses of his mind.

_Him? HIM?! Of all people, it had to be the one whose goal in life is to capture me. And we'll be alone with him. Every night. Great._

_Come on Dark, surely it can't be that bad. Besides, he promised not to touch me remember? I don't think Hiwatari's the sort of person that would take advantage of a situation like that. _

There was a pause, then _We'll see…_ Replied Dark.

_What's that supposed to mean?_

But Dark said nothing, leaving Daisuke rather confused. He shook his head. "Stupid Dark…" he muttered quietly.

Once all the names had been called out, and all the students had been assigned partners, their teacher set the clipboard aside. "Very well then, the trip is one week from now. Next Monday we will come to the school, take attendance, then depart for the cruise." She smiled dreamily, it seemed her mind had already left on vacation and forgot to take her with it. "Be sure to pack plenty of clothes, especially warm clothes for the ski resort. I don't want any of you catching a cold."

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for the students. Though everywhere in the hallways you could hear people talking excitedly about the upcoming trip. After school Daisuke walked out of school with a much more mellow demeanor than that of this morning. He walked through the gates so deep in thought that he nearly jumped out of his skin when Satoshi greeted him. He was leaning against the brick with his hands in his pockets.

Once his heart calmed down again, Daisuke smiled and nodded his own greeting. "Konnichiwa, Satoshi-kun."

Satoshi fell into step beside Daisuke, and they walked in silence for a bit. "This is going to be an interesting trip, ne?"

Daisuke laughed lightly "Tell me about it; me, you, Dark, and Krad, all in the same room…for two weeks. Dark didn't seem to happy about the arrangement."

Satoshi nodded in agreement. "I was afraid Krad was going to come out and kill the teacher right then. Poor woman has no idea the catastrophes she's wrought."

Daisuke blinked at him. "Wow….that was really dark."

Satoshi shrugged, "I picked it up from a book I was reading earlier."

Daisuke laughed. Then he looked up in surprise as he saw something small, white, and fluffy come bounding down the sidewalk toward him. "Wiz?" His question was answered when the rabbit-like creature jumped up into his arms, kyuuing softly. "What are you…?" Then he noticed a note attached to the animals' neck. He pulled the makeshift collar off of him, and the fluffy creature jumped onto his shoulder, studying Satoshi carefully.

The bouncy redhead scanned the note carefully. It read, "Tonight you will be stealing the chaos gem. I did not send out a warning note, because it is too dangerous to get the police involved. Dark will know what to do. Your grandpa and I have something important to attend to for the next two days. Sorry for the last minute notice. Good luck, and lots of love, Mom."

Satoshi watched his friend's face carefully; first as his eyes widened, then as he visibly paled a bit. "What is it?" he asked, not expecting the reaction he received.

Daisuke made a small squeaking sound in his throat as he hurried to hide the note. If his mom didn't want the police involved, it definitely wouldn't be good if Satoshi found out. "I-it's nothing. Nothing. Just a little note from mom…uh…telling me to be home." He laughed nervously.

"It was a notice, wasn't it?" Satoshi asked, his blue eyes narrowing, suddenly serious.

Daisuke silently cursed the commander's ability to be so perceptive. "N-no, not at all. Just a note…I-I have to go. See you tomorrow!" And with that Daisuke turned and ran, leaving Satoshi staring suspiciously after him. His heart pounded as he ran as fast as he could. He wasn't sure why he had panicked so much, but the look Hiwatari-kun had given him…he hadn't realized the boy's glare could be so…scary. Actually, the only time he'd seen that look was through Dark's eyes. He stopped when he reached his house, pausing for a moment to lean against the door to catch his breath before going inside.

The house was empty, since his mom and grandpa were gone. Why did they have to leave so suddenly? This wasn't like his family at all. He shook his head, and called to the sleeping kaitou inside him. _'Dark? Dark? What's going on here? This chaos gem…what is it?'_

Dark awoke to the panicked tones in the young boy's voice. He yawned. _Wassamatter Dai? _

'_The chaos gem. What is it?'_ Daisuke repeated, calming down a bit as he took his stuff up to his room and sat down on his bed. He looked in the mirror that leaned against the wall, and Dark's image appeared before him. He liked being able to talk to Dark directly like that; it made him feel less like he was talking to himself, and more like he was conversing with an actual person.

The thief smiled reminiscently. _Ah yes. The Chaos Gem. There are a lot of rumors that have been circulated about that thing. It's an ancient Hikari artifact, and one of the most mysterious._

"Why's that?" Daisuke interrupted, cocking his head to one side.

_You know that all the Hikari art pieces have magical powers, right? _He continued when Daisuke nodded, _Well, the exact use of the Chaos Gem is still unknown. Everything made by the Hikari family has always served a specific purpose. But with the chaos gem, nobody knows what it is supposed to do. All anyone knows, is that it is a tool of destruction, and people who mess with it usually pull away worse for wear._

Large ruby eyes stared nervously at Dark after this statement. "A-and we're supposed to steal it? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Dark smiled reassuringly at the young wing master. _Don't worry Dai-chan. I've got it covered. Besides, shouldn't you be getting ready for your date?' _

Daisuke's eyes widened suddenly. "Oh my god! I completely forgot! Riku!" He looked at the clock. He told Riku he would pick her up at 6. It was now 5:15. He sighed. At least he still had a little bit of time. "But…what about the gem?" he asked, looking back at Dark.

The raven-haired man smiled. _You have plenty of time. We have to wait until the museum closes anyway. Enjoy your date. _And with that Dark disappeared, and left Daisuke staring at his own reflection. He blinked a couple of times, then decided to get ready. It was going to be a long night…

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Woot. First chappie of my first DNAngel fic is finished . A couple of notes…the first one being about Wiz. I'm going to keep the Tokypop translation of the name, because 'With' is a much too commonly used preposition, and it gets confusing using it as a name as well. Therefore the adorable rabbit-type-thing's name shall be Wiz.

It's strange how this story developed in my mind. At first it was going to be a simple 'vacation fic' but then, I don't like to follow a crowd, so now it's going to be a bit different. But I'm excited about writing it

Oh, and any information about Krad would be appreciated. Here's what I've gathered about him from some fanfics…He's some sort of demon/angel-ish type thing that lives in Satoshi, and for some reason causes Satoshi to not get close to anyone. And that he's some sort of homicidal maniac. Does he get jealous or what? Please tell me!

I'm not sure exactly when this story takes place…but I guess it's not too long after vol. 4. I dunno, I can't remember what happens at the end of that book. But anyways, Daisuke and Satoshi are obviously closer friends in this story…so yeah. But they're both still 14. And I'm rambling now cuz I'm really tired. So yeah. Please tell me what you think! (this was more of an introductory chapter than anything, so hopefully it'll get better )


	2. A date and a theft

Disclaimer: If DN Angel was mine, I'd have no reason to write a fanfic about it now would I?

A/N: Okay, so the last chapter didn't feel quite up to par for me. Especially after going back and reading one of my other fics. Oh well, I'll try to make this one better. The last one was mostly set up and stuff. Sorry it took so long to update! It took me a while to get a start on this chapter, because after seeing Samurai Champloo on cartoon network, I downloaded the last 20 episodes from limewire. Then I watched Gravitation (funny show. And Shuichi is so cute! Most adorable anime character ever created!)

…so I was sort of distracted from writing.

Chapter 2: A date and a theft 

30 minutes later, with only 15 minutes left before the date, Daisuke could be found frantically darting this way and that around his room and through the house. Dark had left him alone, and opted that sleep was more important than bugging or teasing his host, which Daisuke was glad of. His mind was all over the place, and he was nervous, not really in a mood to be embarrassed by Dark as well.

Daisuke stopped for a moment to study his image in the mirror. He had chosen a black collared shirt with a white, short-sleeve vest over it, and a pair of black pants, and a small dragon pendant necklace to top it off. 'I guess Dark is rubbing off on me more than I thought…' he mused, noting the rather excessive use of black. He ran his fingers through his hair one more time, then left to go pick up Riku.

In a few minutes Daisuke arrived at the Harada household. He stood in front of the door for a few seconds, gathering his nerve, then rang the doorbell. From inside he heard some muffled voices, a lot of stomping, and a rather awkward-sounding thud, before Riku opened the door, looking a bit flustered, but happy nonetheless. "Hiya Daisuke! Hold on just a second, let me grab my purse and we can go!" She ducked back inside for a moment, and reappeared with her purse. She grabbed his hand and led him off to the movies, where they had planned to go earlier.

Riku chatted happily almost the entire way to the movies. Daisuke was vaguely reminded of his walk with Satoshi that morning, except this time he was the one being silent, and he realized that Riku's constant meaningless babble was actually starting to get slightly annoying. He wondered if he annoyed Satoshi when he talked like that. He'd have to ask him about it later…

"Right Daisuke? …Daisuke?"

Daisuke's head flew up, and his attention snapped back to Riku. "Eh?" he said stupidly.

Riku pouted and crossed her arms. "Were you even listening to me at all?" she asked accusingly.

Daisuke laughed and scratched the back of his head embarrassedly. "Sorry, I guess I sorta spaced out…"

"Yeah, no kidding…" Riku muttered, eyeing Daisuke skeptically from the corner of her eye. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch in her mind, she smiled widely and tugged on Daisuke's hand. "Look! The theater!" she said excitedly, like a kid who had just eaten chocolate for the first time.

Daisuke smiled as well. They had chosen to see 'Madagascar', a movie he had wanted to see for a while. He bought popcorn and drinks for them both, and they made their way into the dark theater.

An hour and twenty minutes, and much laughter later (Daisuke nearly spewed root beer over the seats in front of him when he started laughing while drinking), the movie was over, and they left, all earlier annoyances forgotten.

They walked silently through the streets, watching as the sky started to grow darker, and the first stars began to show themselves. Dark blues of early night mixed seamlessly with the reds and oranges of the sunset. Daisuke stared at it thoughtfully, thinking of how he'd like to paint that picture… "Daisuke!"

The said ruby-eyed boy jumped. He had completely forgotten for a moment that Riku was with him. "Let's go into that café!" Riku said as she pointed to a small coffee shop across the street. Daisuke nodded, and followed Riku into the building.

_You have serious focus issues, you know that?_

Daisuke glared inwardly at his alter-ego. '_What's your point? Didn't you agree to leave me alone for this date?'_

The thief chuckled. _Testy, aren't we? Hmmm…I said no such thing. You just assumed so because I was quite while you got ready. Besides, that was a funny movie, it would've been a shame to miss it…_

The younger boy sighed. Why _had_ he snapped at Dark like that? He was right though. His mind had been jumping everywhere all night. Perhaps that's why Dark had woken up…He shook his head, and his thoughts cleared as he inhaled the sweet scent of sugar-laden coffee as they walked into the small café. They found some plush chairs in the corner, and sat across from each other. Though after a couple of minutes, Riku reconsidered their seating arrangement, and moved to sit in Daisuke's chair, and rested her head against Daisuke's shoulder. (It was a large chair.)

The boy blushed, and wrapped his arms lightly around Riku. They ordered a couple cups of coffee, then mostly spent the time at the café talking. When Daisuke looked down at his watch, his jaw dropped. It was 9:20. They had been in the café for an hour?! "Eh…Riku, I think we should go. I…don't want your parents to worry…" he stuttered awkwardly, as he started to get up.

Riku looked up questioningly. "Why so suddenly?" she asked.

"Because I just now looked at my watch. And I…er…promised mom I'd be back by 9:30." He smiled sheepishly, hoping he was being convincing. He idly thought he was glad he was talking to Riku, and not Satoshi. The detective would've seen through that a mile away. Luckily Riku was a little more dense.

"Oh…all right." She agreed, grabbing her purse and following Daisuke out the door.

Daisuke tried to ignore the disappointed tone in her voice as they walked back to her house. Once they were there, they stood on the porch for a few moments, each person looking awkwardly at the other. Then, in a move neither of them really expected, Riku stood on her tiptoes, and kissed Daisuke. His eyes widened in shock, but before he could do or say anything, Riku had disappeared into her house. He stood there blinking stupidly, until Dark pulled him from his thoughts.

Alright Dai-chan, you've had your date, now we have to steal that Chaos Gem. And this time…you're gonna have to steal it.

'_What? Geez Dark, you getting lazy or something?' _he asked sarcastically. He left the Haradas' doorstep and began heading toward his own home.

Not at all. But when dealing with something as unstable as the chaos gem, it's better not to have anyone with any sort of magical powers near it.

'Whoa, wait a minute. What do you mean…unstable? What are you not telling me about this thing?' Daisuke was beginning to panic for the second time that night.

Calm down, Dai-chan. It's nothing to worry about. We're just going to go in, steal the gem, and put it in the vault with the rest of the stuff. Like a normal night, right? He spoke in a soothing voice, like that of a mother assuring her child on the first day of a new school.

Daisuke nodded and took a deep breath to calm himself. 'Yeah…a normal night…'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thirty minutes later could find Daisuke lurking around the museum, dressed in the black leather-ish outfit his mother had set out for him before she left. It was strange to him…to be walking up to the museum sneakily on a quiet night, instead of flying in to noisy crowds, smiling and waving like a movie star walking down the red carpet. He crept up to the side of the large building, and removed a small metal panel hidden behind a bush. He stuck his tongue out in concentration as he cut a few wires to disarm the alarm system. "There" he muttered as he closed the metal door, and made his way to the nearest tree. He jumped up the branches until he had reached the level of the museum's roof, and jumped onto it.

He carefully lifted one of the glass panes on the roof, and dropped into the museum. It was lighter than he had expected; there were soft-glow lamps placed evenly around the large round room. He looked around as his eyes adjusted, then he stopped as he saw something he wasn't expecting. There was a silhouette of a person standing near the back wall, facing away from him. His eyes widened as he recognized the lithe figure…of Satoshi Hiwatari.

As if sensing his thoughts, the young detective turned around, his blue eyes catching the light to create an eerie sort of expression. "…Niwa?" His voice was…surprised? That was a tone rarely heard in the usually stolid teen.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Daisuke stuttered. This was bound to throw a kink in his and Dark's plans…

The blue-haired boy smirked and stepped forward out of the shadows. "I could ask the same thing of you." He stated calmly, the earlier surprise having disappeared from his voice. "You know the museum's closed right? And no warning was received from Dark that there would be any thefts tonight."

"Er…yeah, well…" 'Dark, help me out here' he pleaded with his alter ego.

What do you want from me? If anyone could get creepy boy over there to let us go, it would be you.

'Eh?' Daisuke's expression turned to confusion. 'But he doesn't know we're here to steal anything, right? So how-'

Trust me Dai, I'm sure he's figured out by now what we're up to, we just caught him off-guard by you appearing instead of me…

"Are you done speaking with Dark yet?" Daisuke jumped at the external voice. "Because if so, would you like to explain to me why you're here?"

The red head glanced around nervously. "Well…I asked you first!" he finished, desperately trying not to be found out.

Satoshi chuckled. "So you did. Alright. I am here to inspect one of the new arrivals to the artifacts exhibit. It was placed in this museum recently, and little is known about its power. I thought I might try a little research on it." He paused, and started slowly walking towards Daisuke, who was steadily becoming more nervous. "This artifact…is called the 'Chaos Gem.' I'm sure you've heard of it?" He asked, pulling a small white piece of paper from his pocket. He handed the crumpled paper to Daisuke, whose eyes widened with shock.

Damn, how did he get that?! Dark exclaimed. It was the note that Daisuke's mom had sent him, telling him to steal the gem.

"Wh…I…erm…" Daisuke tried and failed miserably to say something, anything, coherent.

Satoshi's expression changed, and he smiled gently down at the smaller boy, placing his hand on his head. He bent down so that he was eye level with Daisuke. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you steal this one. Like your mother said, it's too dangerous." Their faces were only inches away, and the only word Daisuke could think of to describe the other boy's expression…was 'intense.' He felt his cheeks heat up, and then something he hadn't expected…he transformed.

Satoshi jumped back in surprise, nearly tripping over himself, and Dark stood there for a moment blinking stupidly. "What the hell…?" he asked to no one in particular, then his brain finally registered what had just happened. He smirked and looked over to Satoshi. "Well, you should be happy" he muttered, and before the boy could even blink, he dashed off down a large hallway to the left, knowing it led to the artifact exhibit.

Satoshi stood for a few seconds longer. 'Happy about what?' he wondered.

Who Cares?! They're getting away! An angry Krad yelled inside his head. Satoshi snapped back to reality, and sprinted after Dark.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Pleeeaaassee?" Risa begged her sister, tugging on her arm.

"Risa, he didn't send out a note, so why do you want to look for him tonight?" Riku asked, slightly annoyed that her twin's obsession with Dark had ruined her mood for the night.

"Exactly! So since he's not stealing anything, he might be out and about right? Please? I don't want to walk by myself…"

Riku sighed. "You're hopeless." She ran her hand through her hair in defeat. "Fine, I'll go with you." Though she doubted they would be seeing Dark.

"Thanks Riku!" Risa exclaimed as she grabbed her older sister's hand and dragged her out the front door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dark ran swiftly through the museum halls until he came to the section he was looking for. In the middle of a large, chamber-like room, stood a glass case. Inside of it, on a red pillow, was the Chaos Gem. It was about the size of a large marble, and was pure black with red swirls and designs painted around it. There seemed to be a soft glow coming from it, but he guessed it was just because of the lighting and reflection from the glass. He slowly walked over to the case and lifted it up. Alright, kid. This is where you take over. he forced himself to the back of Daisuke's mind, causing them to transform back again.

Daisuke hesitantly reached out and picked up the gem. It was warm to the touch, and seemed rather inviting with an artistic sort of charm. He stared at it for a few seconds, until he heard…wings? He turned around swiftly, to see Krad racing toward him. He didn't have time to react, barely to blink, before the blonde beauty barreled into him, knocking the wind out of him. The impact pushed him backwards, and they busted through the window on the far wall. Daisuke winced as he felt the glass cutting him in various places.

Krad?! Satoshi yelled at the demon in surprise and anger. Krad just smirked in response. He had managed to take over Satoshi's body in the boy's confusion upon seeing Daisuke.

Both forms crashed out of the 4th floor window. Krad grabbed Daisuke's wrist as he started to fall; the wrist of the hand in which he held the gem. He started to pry the boy's hand open, (and was having a rather tough time of it, as Daisuke bluntly refused to hand over the precious stone) when he heard something between a shout and a scream below them. With a growl at being interrupted, Krad looked down, and recognized the Harada twins from his host's class.

Daisuke looked down as well, and his eyes grew wide at seeing the two girls. 'What are they doing here?! Don't tell me they knew about the note too!' There was a moment of tense silence and surprise between the four people. Then Daisuke broke the silence. "Risa! Riku! Get out of here!" he shouted. Then he decided that hadn't been such a good idea.

"Daisuke?!" Riku shouted. Great, if he hadn't said anything, they probably wouldn't have known it was him.

Krad took advantage of the distraction, and used the chance to finally pry open Daisuke's hand and grab the gem.

"No!" Daisuke yelled, and tried to grab the jewel back as Krad let his wrist go. But as both the boys' hands closed over the object, it began to glow brightly, almost to the point of needing sunglasses, and the soft warmth began to swell to an excruciating heat. Daisuke yelped and tried to let go, but was instead blown back by a huge force, knocking him down to the ground. He heard the distinct 'thump' of Krad landing twenty feet away.

Risa shrieked and jumped behind her sister, while Riku stood there open-mouthed. What else was a bystander supposed to do in such a situation?

Daisuke suddenly shouted as a searing pain shot through his body. It felt is if his very soul was being ripped out.

"Daisuke!" Riku yelled and ran over to him, but she stopped three feet short. He doubled over, as crimson-red wings sprouted from his back, and a dark energy swirled around him. Riku yelped in surprise and fell backwards. When Daisuke opened his eyes, he saw the image of Dark being pulled from his body. Centered between the places Daisuke and Krad had landed, was the Chaos Gem. It was still shining brightly, and it seemed to be creating a sort of vortex around itself.

Daisuke's eyes widened as he realized what was happening…for it had happened once before. "Daarrrrk!!" he yelled, reaching out to the thief. White energy began to swirl with the black, as Krad was drawn towards the vortex as well. Dark tried futilely to grab Daisuke's outstretched hand, but his fingers slipped through the boys as if they weren't solid…

"NO!" Krad shouted. He refused to be defeated by a marble. He beat his wings against the swirling vortex of doom, but to no avail. And both of the spiritual beings of light and dark were pulled into the seemingly harmless gem.

Daisuke's head spun, and his vision blurred. His hand still outstretched, he fell backward onto the grass of the museum's garden. Riku's jaw dropped as she stared disbelievingly at Daisuke. Risa's nervous gaze flickered from the three people and the once again softly glowing gem in the middle. Satoshi groaned, and sat up rubbing his head. "What the hell was that?" he muttered to no one in particular. He looked up, and jumped when he saw Riku and Risa staring at him. Then he saw Daisuke lying unconscious near them. He tried to stand up, and nearly fell over again. His body felt weak, and he was shaking all over.

"Hi…Hiwatari-kun?" Risa whispered. The girls were in too much of a shock to think properly.

Satoshi didn't answer as he walked over, and half sat, half dropped down on the side of Daisuke that Riku wasn't.

"Hiwatari-kun?" Risa tried again as she walked over to the others. "Um….what just happened? Why were you and Daisuke in the museum? …And…was that Dark?"

Satoshi sighed. "Yes, it was. And you are not to tell anyone about what you just saw. I'm too tired to explain everything right now." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, and dunked it in the nearby fountain. Then he walked back over, and wrung it out onto Daisuke's face.

The boy's mouth twitched, and he groaned softly. He slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing in his vision was blue. "Sa…Satoshi?" he whispered. "Where's Dark?" he asked, not realizing the twins were right there. Though he didn't really care, all he knew was that he felt an emptiness inside him that he didn't like. Satoshi sighed, now assured that the boy was okay, then he shook his head, and placed his hand on Daisuke's forehead in a sort of comforting gesture. "You're hand's shaking…" the boy muttered, before closing his eyes again.

Satoshi smiled softly, then looked up at Risa and Riku. "I hate to ask this of you, but could you two help me get Daisuke to my apartment?"

The girls exchanged glances. "Um…shouldn't you take him home?" Riku asked.

Satoshi shook his head again. "No one's there. Besides, I need to talk to him." He walked over to pick up the Chaos gem, as the girls helped Daisuke up, each supporting him on one side.

It took them a little while to reach the apartment, seeing as the girls were carrying a nearly unconscious Daisuke, and the leader of the group was barely strong enough at the moment to walk. Satoshi had never been so happy to see his own home. Once they were inside, Satoshi began rummaging through his cabinets for some bandages. Daisuke was still bleeding from the glass cuts he had received when Krad forced him through the window.

The twins waited patiently while Satoshi tended to the boy's wounds, Daisuke putting forth just enough effort to stay sitting. Satoshi was starting to get annoyed with the Haradas there. They were ruining any chance he had of being close to Daisuke. Though he knew he shouldn't be thinking like that. Perhaps it was better they were there…He sighed when he was through, and laid Daisuke down against a couple of pillows. Then he turned an annoyed gaze to the girls, though they both seemed a bit too dense to notice. "Something you want?" he muttered coldly.

"Yes." Riku said in a determined voice. "Explain."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

End chapter 2! Yay. Another reason this chapter took forever…was because I couldn't get the museum scene to work out. I played it through about 5 times in my head, and every time it was different. Even when I actually typed it, it didn't come out how I planned. But the end result was the same…so no matter. Except the fact that Risa and Riku weren't supposed to be there, but they somehow managed to force their way in. Oh well. Hope you liked it.

Oh! And thanks a bunch for the reviews! The info really helped. I've decided I'm not going to do review replies on each chapter like I used to. I sort of lost track of who I'd replied to and such, so yeah. And now that my computer is finally back online…(I had to reformat it like, 3 times. It had a virus and then the linksys thing got complicated…)

Oh yeah, and just a side note…the title of this story actually has a double meaning. (In the fact that it comes into play two ways within the story.) Don't know why I'm telling you this…just thought you'd like to know. (It comes into play a little bit later though.)


	3. Confusion

Disclaimer: I don't own D.N.Angel……or Romeo and Juliet for that matter.

A/N: Oh, **Cradle 2 the Grave**…I just had to comment…you make me laugh. Of course I know who Gir is. Invader Zim is one of my favorite shows! And **Priestess kurumi inu's sister **(long name) brought up an interesting point. No, Dai does not still have the wings, they disappeared along with the energy stuff that surrounded him (heh, I actually sort of forgot they were there in the first place). But there was a point to them…sort of. Though I don't have the details worked out yet…actually I'm still working out a lot of ideas for this story. Several of them keeping popping up in my head; there's like a giant battle of ideas in my mind. Lol.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way…onto the story!

Japanese terms:

itai 'ouch' or 'it hurts' (basically) usually heard as 'itetetetete' (like owowowowow)

gomen sorry

blunette not a real word, just a play on the word 'brunette', used to describe sato-kun's blue hair. (I saw it on a few other fanfics and thought it was cute, so therefore, I shall use it too. )

Chapter 2: Confusion 

Satoshi merely blinked at Riku's request. "You make it sound so simple." He muttered under his breath. She wanted him to 'explain'? That was a difficult task to begin with, then add the fact that the teen was tired beyond all reason, and you end up with a very irritated Satoshi. "No." he said, louder this time so the girls could hear.

"NO?!" Riku shrieked, making Satoshi wince from the assault on his ears. "I just saw--"

"Yes, I know what you just saw, Harada-san, and I will answer any questions you may have in the morning. But right now, I'm tired, Niwa is unconscious, and you two are still upset. It will be much easier if we agree to meet once we are rested. Agreed?" The young commander resolved easily with the heir of one used to creating agreements and compromises.

Riku pouted and seemed to think this over for a minute. She looked over at Risa, who looked as hesitant as she was to leave. "Okay" Risa answered for her sister. "But we're coming back first thing in the morning."

"Sure, whatever." Satoshi mumbled. He found it harder and harder to concentrate on what the girls were saying, as his eyes blurred in and out of focus. He was vaguely aware of the girls leaving, but once he heard the lock on the door beep, he sighed, and flopped down on his stomach next to Daisuke. He didn't actually remember hitting the pillow, all he knew was that that night was the deepest sleep he'd had in a long time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Daisuke grumbled half-heartedly as the sun's rays intruded his dreams, and caused him to reluctantly open his eyes. He was comfortable, and his mind was at peace. He had a feeling in the back of his mind, that waking up meant kissing that peaceful feeling goodbye, and he didn't quite want it to leave. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was blue. (deja-vu) Hmm, that's funny, since when had Wiz's fur turned blue? Wait…he blinked a few times. That wasn't Wiz's fur…it was Satoshi's hair! He looked around, and noted that he was in Satoshi's room. How had he gotten there? The last thing he remembered was the museum, the fight with Krad…and yelling to Dark as he was pulled from him…

Daisuke suddenly sat bolt upright. "Dark!" he cried. Then he winced as the action pulled on the cuts on his back, and the bruises he had obtained from the fall so graciously caused by Krad. "Itetetetete…" he whimpered as he fell back into the fluffy comfort of the bed.

Satoshi slowly opened his eyes, having been awakened by Daisuke's sudden outburst and his fall back onto the bed. "You're noisy when you wake up, you know that?" He mumbled into the pillow, still half asleep.

"heheh…gomen" Daisuke apologized, scratching the back of his head in a nervous habit.

"hnn" was the only response he received, as Satoshi slowly pushed himself up on his hands and knees, then turned around, staring blankly at his feet.

"Satoshi?" Daisuke asked, turning on his side to better view his –by all appearances stoned- friend. "What happened last night…to Dark and Krad? Where did he go? Why can't I hear him?" It wasn't just not hearing the kaitou that bothered him though –for Dark had been silent for extended periods of time before-, it was not _feeling _him. Not feeling the presence of the thief that had been with him so long. He was like the boy's conscience, only more talkative. And now he couldn't hear him. Was he gone? Would he be able to see him again? All these thoughts began to invade Daisuke's mind, as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes.

Even through his low-blood-pressure-induced 'coma', these questions still tore at Satoshi's heart. Daisuke's voice just sounded so sad...lost almost. He was forcefully reminded of a young child asking why his dog wouldn't 'wake up' when it was, in fact, dead.

The blunette absent-mindedly placed his hand on Daisuke's head, stroking the boy's soft red tresses as a mother might do to comfort that child. He wasn't sure what exactly compelled him to do that, (for he wasn't really known for showing any sort of affections) but then again, he didn't really care. And it was then, as Daisuke asked those questions about Dark, that the full reality of the situation hit Satoshi. Now that he was awake enough to mull it over, he realized…that Krad was _gone._ That malicious voice in the back of his head that was always threatening to hurt the only person he had ever really cared about was now gone, and he realized, he couldn't be happier. Though he knew he couldn't talk to Daisuke about that at the moment, for the separation had caused the exact opposite emotions in the younger boy. He sighed and said, to answer Daisuke's questions, "I'm not entirely clear on what happened myself, but I believe that somehow, the two were pulled into this." He reached into his pocket, and took out the chaos gem.

Daisuke's eyes widened. "Pulled…into it? You mean like that mirror?" Daisuke asked, referring to the lighthouse incident.

Satoshi smiled lightly, not having to ask what the boy meant. "Yeah, except this time, I didn't do it."

Daisuke reached out, and took the gem. It started to glow when it touched his hand, and grew warm, as it had the night before. Then, a voice began to speak. It came from the jewel; sounding like it could only be heard in the boys' heads, while at the same time reverberating around the room as it would in a great music hall. Daisuke and Satoshi looked at each other wide-eyed in surprise, then back at the shimmering gem, as the deep voice surrounded them.

"_Fear not the chaos as it resides within the serenity, _

_Only as it breaks the bonds of reality._

_Once the spirits are taken, and lost from the world,_

_Only the red-winged angel can restore the balance once intended."_

The voice faded off, and the two teens could only stare at the gem, now back to its normal state, with mixed expressions of awe and fear.

Satoshi looked up, and was surprised to see that Daisuke was shaking. "Niwa-kun? Are you okay?" He asked softly.

"What is all _that_ supposed to mean?" Daisuke whispered.

Satoshi slowly shook his head. "I don't know…but I'm beginning to think there's more to this gem than meets the eye."

"What--?" but Daisuke was unable to finish his sentence, as a doorbell rang throughout the apartment. He looked up curiously as he heard Satoshi groan.

"And that would be the Haradas." Satoshi looked over, and upon seeing Daisuke's confused expression, smiled a bit. "I told them that if they came back in the morning, I would answer any questions they have. You can only imagine how confused they must be after seeing the events of last night, if even we don't understand them."

Daisuke laughed softly. "I suppose so."

Satoshi was relieved to see Daisuke laugh, even if it was only half-heartedly. He was a little worried with the boy's earlier questions and upset tone…for who knew what sort of effects losing a part of himself would have on the boy? But he was distracted from his thoughts when the doorbell rang again. The young commander reluctantly got up to answer the door. He didn't particularly like the Harada sisters, and wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing them first thing in the morning. Riku he didn't like, because she so strongly held Daisuke's affections, and he didn't like Risa merely because she was annoying…and rather dense at times. Oh well, might as well get it over with.

He checked his emotions as he touched the doorknob, and placed his ever-stolid mask on his face. And what he saw when he opened the door didn't necessarily surprise him…it just annoyed him to no end. For, standing on the other side of the door, was Risa looking anxious and nervous, Riku looking annoyed and demanding…and Takeshi, looking eager and excited.

Satoshi slapped his hand to his forehead in a defeated manner, and gestured for the three to come inside. "Why, may I ask, are you here too?" The question was directed at Takeshi, because from what he could remember –and he was pretty sure his memory was not failing him just yet- the over-eager reporter had not been witness to any of the previous night's events.

"Apparently he saw some bright lights coming from the direction of the museum from his house last night, and when he saw us walk you two back here, he became curious." Riku replied in a tone that suggested she was just as cross about it as Satoshi.

Risa, at seeing Satoshi's expression, decided to try and justify their actions. "He wouldn't stop questioning us!" she exclaimed desperately.

"Hey!" Takeshi cried. "Don't blame everything on me, you two didn't exactly hesitate to answer my questions, you know."

Risa was about to retaliate, when a small noise from the doorway to Satoshi's bedroom interrupted them.

All four people looked up when Daisuke cleared his throat. Takeshi was most surprised by the other boy's appearance. He lacked a shirt, but had bandages wrapped around his upper torso, (courtesy of Satoshi and his excessive worry over the boy's welfare), and looked…so…solemn? Was that the right word? Either way it was a strange expression set upon the boy's normally childishly happy features.

"Daisuke! You're awake!" Riku yelled as she launched herself at the stunned boy. Though she was stopped mid-jump by a hand grabbing the back collar of her shirt. She squeaked as she was pulled back, and nearly fell into Satoshi. "What did you do that for?!" she snapped at the blunette, who was giving her a rather unreadable glare.

"Do you want to knock Daisuke out again? His strength has not yet fully recovered." He answered simply, releasing the girl's shirt in favor of rubbing the bridge of his nose, to ward off a threatening headache.

Daisuke just smiled apologetically to Riku. "Come on Satoshi, I'm not that weak." He muttered. Then his gaze wandered to Takeshi. "Ne…Takeshi-kun, how much, exactly, did they tell you?" he asked walking over and taking a seat on the couch.

Takeshi clasped his hands behind his back, and walked nonchalantly towards Daisuke. "Oh, not much really…just the fact that…You're DARK MOUSY!" he ended in an exclamation, merely a foot from Daisuke's face, his hands extended as far on each side of him they would reach. "Why didn't you ever tell me!?" He asked loudly, standing back up, frightening the other occupants of the room slightly. "All those times I asked you if you knew anything about Dark's next heist, and you didn't say anything!?"

Daisuke watched his friend with an apologetic, yet nervous smile set upon his pale face. "I-I'm sorry Takeshi…but I couldn't…I mean…I'm not…" Daisuke stuttered to find something to say, but was saved when Satoshi cut in.

"It's strictly forbidden. No one but those of the Niwa and Hikari line are ever to know about the identities of Dark and Krad." Satoshi said, taking a seat next to Daisuke (much to Riku's disappointment), indicating the others to follow his lead. Takeshi was made to sit on the floor, as Riku and Risa took the chair and last remaining couch seat.

"Hikari? But isn't your name Hiwatari?" Risa asked from Satoshi's other side on the couch.

Satoshi sighed as he resigned himself spill his life story. Well…not all of it, (Only Daisuke would ever know anything personal about his past) but the parts they needed to know to be satisfied enough to leave him alone anyway. He removed his glasses, placed them on the coffee table, and dove into the tale of Dark and Krad's existence, as well as the reason he had referred to himself as 'Hikari', with Daisuke filling in with his own details every now and then.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dark groaned as the world of consciousness slowly fell back into place around him. He reached up and rubbed his head, on the back of which was a rather large bump from where he hit it when he fell. He blinked a couple of times. _Fell? _Where had he fallen from? As his vision once again slid into focus, he took a chance to look around.

The world around him looked vaguely familiar, yet at the same time, entirely unrecognizable. As he looked around, he would see a building he knew, but when he looked back for a double take, the familiarity was gone, and in the same place stood a building, or object, the he'd never seen in his life. Then when he blinked, he would see that same building on another part of the street.

He shook his head, and buried his face in his hands. "That's it…I've finally gone insane." He muttered quietly to himself.

"About damn time you woke up." A deep -and rather annoyed sounding- voice growled beside him.

Dark looked up in surprise. "Krad!" The blonde was not looking directly at him, as he seemed to be concentrating hard on their surroundings, trying to get an inkling of an idea of where they might be. Dark stood up and walked over to his opposite. "Any idea where we are?" He asked seriously, usual playfulness all but forgotten.

"No idea." Grunted Krad. He seemed very annoyed at the fact that he didn't know, and he refused to look at Dark.

Dark pondered for a moment on the situation. He remembered the events of the night before, and shuddered at the look he'd last seen on Daisuke's face; a look of such desperation to keep the kaitou from leaving him again. And now he was stuck in a strange place –that annoyingly kept switching locations of buildings and other various objects, and who's colors constantly and seamlessly shifted from one to the other to create a myriad of rainbows that almost gave the illusion that the colors never even changed at all- with his sworn enemy of the last few centuries. He blinked as he tried to adjust his mind to the utter strangeness of the world around him, then a sudden thought struck him.

"Hey Krad…" he said hesitantly, a hint of his normal playfulness back on his features, as he walked around to stand in front of Krad, bending over slightly with his hands behind his back.

"What?" He answered tersely. It was more of a sentence than a question.

"Seeing as I was just unconscious…and you're standing here…why am I still around?" He blinked his amethyst eyes innocently up at the angel-like man.

Krad sighed and rolled his eyes, as he started to walk down the hill (as they had landed on a rather large hill when they were thrown into the world). "I don't have time to deal with your nonsense Dark."

The thief blinked and then trotted after him. "It's not nonsense, I'm being serious. Why didn't you kill me then? It would have been easy…"

"That's just it. It would be a disgrace upon myself to kill an unconscious man. Besides…" he paused as he concentrated on navigating over a few boulders in the path. "Don't you think we have a much better chance of getting out of here…if there are two heads to contemplate on an escape plan?"

Dark smiled as he passed the boulders in a single leap to land in front of Krad. "Well well, Krad, are you saying you actually want to work _together_?" He started to walk backwards, keeping pace with Krad in order to see him answer.

Krad, in turn, scowled at the thief in front of him. "Not at all. I never said I _wanted_ to work together, I merely suggest that it is a necessary evil if I wish to escape from this ridiculously idiotic world."

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that…" Dark answered with a smirk, then as an afterthought, finished with, "Kraddy-kins."

"Don't call me that!!" Krad snarled and let out a frustrated roar as he jumped at Dark, who merely laughed maniacally and ran away, as white balls of energy exploded into the ground around him. He figured they could look for a way out later, (and was depending heavily upon Satoshi and Daisuke being able to figure something out as well) but it wasn't every day he got to have so much fun with golden-eyed beauty behind him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A very tense and uncertain silence hung in the air of the apartment of Hiwatari Satoshi. All eyes were staring fixedly at Satoshi and Daisuke, and all mouths hung agape. Daisuke blushed and sank low into the couch. Usually when he received this much attention, he was in the back of Dark's mind, and was not the direct focus for it.

"I can't believe it…" Riku whispered. "My only love, sprung from my only hate!"

The group sweat dropped. "Um…Riku…he wasn't exactly 'sprung'" Takeshi muttered.

"So then…where is Dark-san now?" This comment of course came from Risa.

Satoshi glared at her as he saw Daisuke slump even further into the couch at this question. "Like I said…we _don't. know._"

Daisuke chanced a look at Riku, who was looking at the floor with an unreadable expression in her light brown eyes. "You…you didn't trust me, did you?" she whispered. And the redhead blinked in surprise.

"You didn't think you could tell me?" she said, now looking directly at Daisuke, her voice slowly rising. "I get it, you never really liked me did you? I knew I was always just a replacement for Risa. It's obvious since you didn't even have enough faith in me to tell me your secret!" she finished almost yelling, and ran off to the front door. It slammed behind her, and the room was once again drowned in silence. Though this time, the tension was so thick, you could've cut it with a knife.

Satoshi chanced a glance at the crimson haired boy beside him, and saw that he was trying really hard not to cry. He wanted so bad to reach out and hold him, to comfort him, but he knew he couldn't, especially not with Risa and Takeshi still in the room.

"Daisuke?" Takeshi whispered in a concerned voice.

Daisuke looked up at them all with a smile so fake it was almost painful to look at. He sniffed, and faked a yawn behind his hand. "Erm…sorry guys, but I'm still tired…so, I'll, eh, see you later." He said with that same fake happiness, and disappeared back to Satoshi's room.

Risa and Takeshi exchanged glances. "I…think we should go." Risa muttered nervously.

Takeshi nodded and followed her to the door. Satoshi stood, and followed as well. "Remember, you have to promise to tell no one." He ordered firmly.

"Not a word. Reporter's honor." Takeshi answered, though Satoshi didn't think that much of a viable occupation to swear upon. (Perhaps 'scouts honor' would have been more dependable.) But he knew that was Takeshi's way of promising, and he nodded as the two left.

Once the door closed, Satoshi turned around, and stared hesitantly at his bedroom doorway, cursing Riku for leaving him with such an upset Daisuke. Her walking out on him was the last thing the young wing-master needed at the moment. He sighed and walked back into his room, to find Daisuke sitting on the side of the bed with his knees drawn to his chest, staring out the window.

"Daisuke?" he whispered softly, walking over to sit next to the smaller boy.

Tear-filled ruby eyes looked over towards him, causing Satoshi's anger at the elder Harada twin to double. "First Dark…then Riku…left me too." He whimpered.

Satoshi smiled softly in what he hoped was a comforting manner. He reached his arm out, and pulled Daisuke's head gently towards him. The distressed redheaded boy allowed himself to be pulled into Satoshi's embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around the blunette's waist, and buried his head into his shoulder, sobbing openly.

"Don't worry Daisuke." Satoshi whispered, not using the boy's surname for the first time. "We'll find a way to get Dark back…I promise." He tightened his embrace on the younger boy, hoping against hope that he would be able to keep that promise. As much as he hated the fact that that would bring Krad back too…he would do it…for Daisuke.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Wooo! End chapter 3. I'm actually quite surprised, it only took me three separate sittings to finish it. Probably because I enjoyed writing this chapter more. It's funny though, because I actually intended for all explanations to take place that night…but apparently Satoshi was too tired. And then Takeshi was never meant to find out, but he somehow found his way in there. Stupid nosy Takeshi. lol.

Anyways, I'm pretty happy with the way this chapter turned out. Hope I'm not just kidding myself though. So tell me what you think! Or any ideas you may have…

It's also funny how many comments I get on the length of my chapters. That's because I always try to get at least 3,000 words per chapter. (at the moment, this one has 3,757) so yeah, just thought you might like to know. I wanted to get this chapter out now, since I leave for Louisiana on Friday for my cousin's wedding. So anyways, thanks for reading, and until next chapter…ja ne!


	4. Departure

Disclaimer: You already know I don't own it

A/N shall be at the end…

::somewhat important note:: I have changed their vacation. It now consists of only a cruise, with a stop instead at an island resort (still a resort P) for four days and then the trip back. The whole, 'cruise then ski resort' thing seemed a bit too…unrealistic. Nothing you need to go back and read, I just changed that description in the 1st chapter.

Chapter 4: Departure 

_::tap tap tack click…::_

Daisuke stirred slightly as an incessant clicking disturbed his sleep. He faintly registered the warmth that surrounded him, and turned on his side contentedly, only to find that this made the clicking get louder. In his still half-asleep state, he slapped his hand toward the noise, as one would hit the snooze button on an alarm clock. Something wasn't right, however, as his hand his something soft- another hand.

The clicking stopped, and a soft chuckle was heard from somewhere above him. "Did I disturb you?" Satoshi's voice drifted in through the haze in Daisuke's mind, and he opened his eyes with a start, rolling onto his back again. He looked up and saw Satoshi looking down at him, eyes glittering with amusement, and a small smile set upon his lips. It was then that Daisuke realized he was lying in Satoshi's lap.

"Gah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-…" Daisuke stuttered out as he shot up from his position.

Satoshi placed a hand on the distressed boy's head, and he quieted quickly, turning silently to look at Satoshi. "Calm down Daisuke. If I minded at all, I would have pushed you off a long time ago."

Daisuke blinked a couple of times. Well that's curious, just the thought of the ice prince Satoshi lovingly cradling someone's head in his lap was, well…just a bit off. Daisuke snorted in amusement, then shook his head, deciding to find deeper meaning in that later, though he still couldn't stop the slight blush that brushed his cheeks as he decided to turn the topic over to what had woken him up from his previously peaceful slumber.

"What're you working on?" Daisuke asked as he peered around Satoshi's shoulder to look at the laptop.

Satoshi ran a hand tiredly through his hair. "I'm looking through the police and museum records to see if there is any documentation on the gem."

Daisuke bit his lower lip in thought as he looked at Satoshi, who seemed much more tired than he should be. He chanced a glance toward the window, and saw that it seemed rather dark. "…Satoshi?" he asked softly.

"hmm?"

"What time is it?"

Cerulean blue eyes lifted up to look at Daisuke curiously, then briefly flickered to the clock in the corner of the computer screen. "It's 1:23…am" There was a pause, then, "why?"

Daisuke's jaw dropped slightly. "You mean I've been asleep that long?" he asked, remembering that it had only been late morning when he went to sleep the day before.

"Yeah"

"And you haven't slept?"

"No…"

"Go to sleep."

Satoshi blinked at the bluntness of that statement. But one look into Daisuke's eyes told him the boy was completely serious. "Why?"

As if that one isn't obvious. "Sato-kun, it's 1:30 in the morning. It's late. And you look half dead." He gently picked up the laptop and placed it on the bedside table. "That should be enough reasons. But if you need more, I'm sure I could find some. Just…get some rest now, and we can look for more information when you're rested, ok?"

There was a definite placating tone in the younger one's voice, as if he was afraid Satoshi was going to argue, or put up a fight. Far from it actually, he was indeed tired, he just hadn't wanted to go to sleep in case something happened to Daisuke. What could possibly happen, he wasn't sure. It wasn't as if the boy would randomly go into cardiac arrest and keel over or anything. Satoshi looked up and smiled softly. "Alright, but wake me if you need anything, understood?"

Daisuke nodded, but Satoshi could tell that Daisuke would avoid waking him at all costs, unless of an absolute emergency. Sometimes the boy was too caring for his own good. He sighed, and lay back on his bed, turning over on his side facing away from the suddenly motherly boy beside him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Kraaaaaad….I'm bored."

"Well then, find a way to entertain yourself."

"I have a better idea…how 'bout you entertain me!"

Krad let out a very frustrated half growl/half snarl. "I am _not_ here to entertain you, Dark. Now why don't you make yourself useful and help me find a way out of this god-forsaken place?"

Dark snorted and crossed his arms in a pout. "And how do you suppose we do that? We've been wandering around these streets aimlessly for the past four days, and the only thing we've come up with is the fact that nothing around here makes _any_ _sense_!" he ended with a pleading sort of frustration in his tone.

Krad sighed and leaned against a building that looked like it might have been a museum…or a movie theater, he couldn't really tell. It was obvious that his dark haired companion was a lot more stressed about their situation than he let on. "Calm down, Dark. Freaking out for no reason isn't going to get us anywhere." He paused in thought as he watched the people walking by; flickering images that seemed to come in and out of the world sporadically, but not taking notice at all. He narrowed his eyes as he studied them closer. "Hey, Dark, do you notice anything strange about these people?"

"Oh, you mean besides the fact that they're flickering like an old film, or a dying candle?" he huffed as he slid down the wall next to Krad.

The blonde decided to ignore the sarcasm for a moment. "No, look at their faces. They all have a similar expression…like they're scared…or panicked…or--"

"Insane?"

"Yes."

"I wasn't serious."

"I know."

A perplexed look settled across Dark's face as he watched the people around him, closer this time. Now that he looked at them, a lot of the people did have the unfocused eyes, and misplaced expression of one that might be considered insane. "That gem."

Krad raised an eyebrow at the random statement. "What about it?"

"I'm not really sure, but it has to have a big part in what's going on here."

"You think?" Krad muttered sarcastically. Apparently talking to Dark was going to get him nowhere.

"No, I mean yes. Shut up Krad. I just…I have a really bad feeling about this place." He shuddered as a passerby fixed her gaze on him; a haunting stare that left him chilled to the bone despite the warmth of the place. "Like we shouldn't be here. There's something wrong, and the feeling's only been growing since we got here."

"You worry too much."

"And you don't worry enough! I'm serious Krad!" Dark shouted as he stood up, his arms outstretched halfway.

Krad was slightly taken aback by the panic evident in Dark's amethyst eyes, a stark contrast to his attitude only a few minutes ago. He held up his hands in a defensive gesture, and said in what he hoped was a placating tone, "Alright, alright. But we really can't do much about it right now. You know as much as I do that it's up to Satoshi-sama and your Niwa kid to figure out a way to get us out of here."

Dark deflated at Krad's words, and slumped against the wall once more. "I know Krad, I know." He buried his head in his hands and sighed. "I know…"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Daisuke sat next to Satoshi's sleeping form on the bed, unwilling to go to sleep, and idly playing with the chaos gem in his fingers. He stared at the far wall with a blank expression, lost in thoughts of the things that had happened within the past 48 hours. He felt a faint pulsing coming from the jewel, and felt a curious attachment to it. And the fact that he was feeling fond of a jewel should have scared him…at least somewhat. But obviously he wasn't really thinking at the moment.

A small movement from his side distracted Daisuke, and he smiled as Satoshi turned towards Daisuke in his sleep. He had to bite back a laugh as the detective took hold of one of his legs, coddling it as one would a stuffed animal. Instead, he just reached down and stroked the soft blue hair.

'_Is he precious to you?_'

Daisuke jumped, and looked around curiously as a voice invaded his thoughts. A voice who's echoed resonance was unnervingly familiar. "What?" he asked, barely remembering to speak softly, so as to not wake the sleeping boy beside him.

'_Is he precious to you_?'the voice repeated in a tone suggesting infinite patience.

Daisuke's brain seemed to shut down for a moment, as he stared blankly at the gem, wondering why he was starting to hear voices asking him strange and random questions. He shook his head, and snapped his gaze to Satoshi, whose calm expression was a stark contrast to the cold indifference he showed in public. 'She's talking about him….' He realized, deciding to dub the voice a female, since it had a very feminine tone to it.

'_Very good little one_'

The flame-haired boy could still hear the question lingering in the air, and looked back at Satoshi. "Precious? Is he…well…I mean, he's a friend, so I guess that would make him precious…or something." He could feel himself blushing as he stumbled over what should be a simple answer. Yes.

He almost felt the voice nodding, though how a voice could shake its head at all was beyond him.

'_Very well then._' And just like that, the warm presence was gone, and it was once again just himself and Satoshi, who was still obliviously asleep beside him. Daisuke shuddered, and decided to put the gem to the side for now. Hearing voices was usually not a good sign for anything. He still wasn't tired, and didn't want to go to sleep. He swept his gaze around the room, taking in the almost hospitalized appearance of his schoolmate's room. After making a mental note to tell Satoshi to remodel, his gaze landed on the laptop sitting on the side table.

"Well, if I can't sleep, maybe I can find something out about this stupid thing." He muttered quietly as he disentangled himself from Satoshi's grasp, threw his legs over the side of the bed, and padded over to the earlier abandoned computer. Once he opened it, he discovered it required a password to get in. He surreptitiously glanced at the boy still asleep on the bed, and grinned. He hadn't spent years learning to become a thief, and hack into security systems for nothing. With a few choice keystrokes, the main screen popped up. He only took a few seconds to be surprised that Satoshi didn't have better security on his computer, before he clicked into the internet. And that was when he realized he had no idea where to start looking. _Guess I'll start with a simple google search…_.

After an hour, Daisuke had been able to come up with nothing but a blurry picture, and a statement about a gem that apparently doesn't exist. But then, nobody ever said the internet was a completely reliable source. With a frustrated sigh, he ran a slender hand through his hair, and cringed at the slightly oily feeling. He hadn't been able to shower since before the museum incident.

Daisuke again found his gaze wandering around the room, and stopped when it fell on the teen asleep in the bed. He watched as barely audible breath escaped through barely parted lips, and eyes fluttered lightly in the midst of a dream. The moonlight reflected off Satoshi's frame, making his hair even more silvery-blue than usual. He smiled softly, and decided he didn't want to wake the other boy up. He would just go take a shower, and borrow some of Satoshi's clothes. They might be a little big, but it would have to do.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was several hours later when one Satoshi Hiwatari awoke to a rather delightful aroma. Though for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he was smelling eggs, sausage, and toast being cooked in an apartment he lives alone in. Then again, he had just woken up, and with his thoughts clouded by a low blood sugar induced haze, nothing was making much sense to him at the moment. He blinked a few times, and turned his head slowly to the door as an excitable redhead bounded through it.

He blinked owlishly as a tray of food was set upon his lap, and Daisuke slid into the bed next to him, bringing up his own tray piled with generous proportions of various breakfast foods.

"G'moooorrrning sleepy head. Wakey, wakey, eggs 'n bakey!" Daisuke chanted with a giggle, and shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth." After swallowing, he turned towards Satoshi, who seemed to at least be waking up some. "I hope you don't mind, but I figured after these last couple of days, a meal like this sounded good."

Satoshi smiled at the redhead's mother hen type actions. "Indeed, it smells delicious. I can't recall the last time I've had a meal like this one."

Daisuke tilted his head to the side as he studied Satoshi, who was nibbling on a piece of bacon. That last statement, he couldn't place it, but there was something about it that made him want to hug the boy beside him and never let him go. He thought about his own family, and how his mother never made a meal smaller than this one. Then he thought about what Satoshi's home life must be like; living alone, with minimal contact from a stepfather who doesn't even care.

"Is something the matter?" Satoshi asked without removing his eyes from the plate in his lap. Though he needn't ask, he had a pretty good idea where the redhead's thoughts were heading right now. He was surprised though, when he felt an odd weight on his shoulder. He looked over, and saw a tuft of red.

"Well then maybe I should make you meals like this more often huh?" He had tried to sound joking, make a lighthearted comment, but to his dismay the statement came out sounding more sad than anything.

Deciding to make light of the suddenly serious situation, Satoshi nuzzled the top of Daisuke's head, and murmured in his ear, "Are you trying to fatten me up?"

Daisuke giggled at the comment, and pulled away, poking Satoshi in the stomach for good measure. "Maybe." The tension broken, the two friends went back to eating in a companionable silence.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Monday found the entire student body buzzing with excitement, and dragging suitcases and luggage of all sorts into their homeroom classes. Daisuke hauled a large suitcase into the classroom with the rest of them, searching for Satoshi when he entered. He felt completely fine now, but still wasn't as excited about the trip as he had been. The issue with the chaos gem was forefront in his mind, and he was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to see Dark again. It didn't take much effort searching to find Satoshi's signature silver-blue hair. He smiled and waved, and Satoshi lifted a hand in recognition of his presence.

"Excited about the trip Satoshi?" Daisuke asked with a smile as he sat down in the desk next to his 'trip buddy.'

"If your definition of excitement is anything like Takeshi's, then no…" he answered with faint amusement as he watched the aforementioned boy bound around from group to group and talking animatedly with anyone that would listen.

Daisuke laughed, and shook his head, but all further conversation was cut off as their teacher walked into the room. "Alright." She started, immediately getting down to business. "Is there anybody whose partner is not here?" A quick survey around the room told her that everybody had in fact arrived on time, and she smiled, nodded approvingly. "Very well then, I will ask you all to now gather your things, and follow me to the busses waiting outside the front of the school." There was a lot of scrambling as everyone gathered their things, and hurried to follow the teacher outside.

It took a while, but eventually everybody and all the luggage was on the busses, and they could finally begin their school trip. It was essentially a short bus ride to the port they were to be leaving from, and as they drove up to it, many faces could be seen pressed against the windows and staring out into the sea. Satoshi imagined it must have been a very amusing sight from the outside, to see so many squished faces with such silly grins. Though he could hardly make fun of them all, since Daisuke was one of those people. Ever the cool and collected one, he just continued to sit in his seat and stare passively out the window, waiting for the slowing bus to finally come to a stop so they could board the ship.

When the busses finally did stop, Daisuke was surprisingly quick in gathering all of his things, encouraging Satoshi the whole time so that they could be up front. What they were going to be the front of, Satoshi wasn't even sure, since there was only a large mob gathering in a circle around the teachers on the ground. Chuckling a bit at Daisuke's almost infectious excitement, he did as the younger boy asked, and they had soon joined the rest of their class in the mob to receive their next instructions.

"Alright everyone!" It was the principal speaking again, and she didn't have to wait too long before the excited buzz around her died down so that she could be heard. "Each of your homeroom teachers has your room number for the ship. Teachers, raise your hands please." Several hands raised into the air in a line a bit away from the mob, each standing about ten feet apart. "Students, as soon as you find your teacher and get your room assignments, you may board the boat and begin settling into your rooms before the scheduled dinner at 7pm."

She turned her attention to the other chaperones standing around her, and the class, recognizing an obvious dismissal, scuffled around to find their teachers. And much shoving, shuffling, shouting, grinning, and pushing later, Daisuke and Satoshi found themselves standing in front of the door to their room for the next few days. Daisuke looked to his left to see Satoshi just standing, and staring oddly at the door. Wondering what was on his mind, he nudged the older boy lightly in the side. "Ne, Satoshi, what are you thinking about?"

Satoshi seemed to come out of some sort of trance, and blushed lightly as he turned his head to the side. "Nothing." He muttered, inserting the key into the door and turning it, following Daisuke into the suite. How was he supposed to tell Daisuke he'd been thinking about the fact that they were going to be sharing a room? That they were going to be all alone, and he was wondering how he was going to survive this vacation with his sanity intact?" He let out an 'oof' as he ran into the red-head's back, as Daisuke seemed to have stopped almost as soon as he set foot in the doorway. "Um…Daisuke?" he muttered, poking the boy in the shoulder. Then he looked up to see what had caught the boy's attention so completely.

He was admittedly a bit surprised as he looked around the suite. The walls were a light tan, and the carpet white. Two beds sat against the wall to the right of the room, much like a hotel, covered in golden comforters and forest green sheets and pillows. On the left side was a closet, and beside it an entertainment center with a flat screen TV and a DVD player. Farther back lay the bathroom, and the door was open to show it was moderately sized, with a stall style shower and separate bathtub separated from the toilet by a sliding door. "Impressive…" he said lightly, brushing past Daisuke so he could put his stuff down and finally close the door.

This seemed to knock Daisuke out of his stupor, and he nodded in agreement. "Very." He agreed. And suddenly the spell was broken, and he leapt toward the bed on the far side, close to a window that would overlook the ocean. "I call this bed!" he cried, grinning as he grabbed one of the nearest pillows and hugged it to him, watching Satoshi as if daring him to object.

Satoshi had no such thought, however, and chuckled at the boy's antics. Then he got a sudden odd idea, and said "But what if I wanted that bed?" and he stuck his lower lip out ever so slightly. Definitely not normal Satoshi behavior, but he was feeling a bit more reckless without Krad, and this was, after all, only Daisuke.

Daisuke actually blinked in surprise. Was he seeing things, or had Satoshi really just pouted? He actually felt his cheeks grow warm at the expression. Satoshi didn't have his glasses on, and when he stuck his lip out like that, well in Daisuke's mind it was just downright sexy. Then his eyes widened as the thought passed through his mind. _Sexy?! No way I just called him…"_ he didn't finish the thought, and decided to distract himself from the blush currently flaming across his cheeks and neck by answering Satoshi's question. "Well um…" he started, sufficiently unfocused on an answer because of his own line of thought. "I guess, I mean…you could take the bed…if you want it."

One elegant eyebrow raised in question. What, no fight? The boy had seemed so set on getting the bed. He also hadn't failed to notice the blush very evident on his current roommate's face. What on earth had caused him to blush like that? He wasn't sure, but he did know it would be fun to see if he could get him to blush more. It was almost like a new game to the blunette. "Well, we could share the bed." He said it casually, dropping onto the foot of the bed and taking off his shoes.

Daisuke's eyes widened even further, and he sat up straight. "Sh-share?"

Satoshi merely shrugged in answer, and lay back, pillowing his head on folded arms. He felt a shift in the weight on the bed beside him, and turned his head to the side to see Daisuke staring at him with a strange expression on his face.

With a small smile, Satoshi muttered "Don't give yourself a headache, there."

His answer came in the form of a slight glare and a pout. But the light insult was quickly forgotten when Daisuke spoke next. "You've been…different, Satoshi." He said in a small voice, as if afraid of the reaction to his words.

The blue haired teen only raised an eyebrow and asked, "Have I?" Was he really being so noticeably different?

The younger boy nodded, and curled himself into a ball on his side, tucking his right arm under his head. "Well, not really around other people, I mean, you're still sort of an ass to them." Here he stopped and chuckled, to soften his words, knowing they weren't that insulting to Satoshi in the first place. "It's just, when you're around me, you've been…well, nicer. Is it…is it because Krad is gone?" He stopped for a moment and looked down at the bed between them, idly tracing an almost invisible pattern in the comforter.

Satoshi turned on his side, watching Daisuke intently as the boy talked. It was a few moments before the young thief started speaking again, "I've been selfish, haven't I? I was so focused on wanting Dark back…I didn't even think about how happy you must be. Wasn't it because of Krad you alienated yourself from everybody? Because of him that we weren't allowed to be friends…" He stopped again, and looked from under his lashes at Satoshi.

"Daisuke…" Satoshi whispered, not really knowing what to say in answer. Yes, that was exactly right. He was happy. And yet, he wasn't happy knowing Daisuke was sad. He sighed and shook his head, reaching out a hand to brush the hair from Daisuke's eyes. He watched for a moment as those red orbs searched his intently, looking for an affirmation to his thoughts. "Be that as it may…we have to get them back." At Daisuke's slight look of surprise, he smiled a bit, and turned his caress into an affectionate ruffle before pulling his hand back, and setting in the space between them. "It's true, I am happy Krad is gone, but I don't like to see you looking so depressed." He said, surprising himself by actually speaking his thoughts out loud. "And besides that, not knowing what that Chaos Gem does scares me, and I'd rather not chance anything weird by adding the two spirits to its magic."

Daisuke sighed heavily, seemingly torn between several emotions, and closed his eyes, shifting so that his nose was pressed slightly against the other boy's fingers. Satoshi wasn't even sure Daisuke realized he was doing it. "I know…I just wish I could talk to Dark; at least make sure he's okay…"

At his statement, the jewel he had put in his pocket before they left pulsed, and glowed for a few seconds before becoming a harmless stone once again.

Satoshi watched the other boy drift off to sleep, and wondered, not for the first time, just exactly what was in store for them during this vacation.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Umm….hi? ducks behind couch and cowers in fear Hisashiburi! I, am sooooo, sorry, for my horrible horribleness as an authoress of fanfiction. I can't believe I haven't updated this in so long. And if you want to hear my excuse….I got writer's block for a while, so I started some other stories, got distracted, started college, and then this sort of just fell by the way side.

Recently however, I've had this sudden writing fever. Like, I've written so many things, and my friend that likes to read my stories said I somehow managed to 'suddenly get better' at writing. But anyway, it was going back and reading the reviews that seriously inspired me to finish this chapter. I do hope it's up to standard, and I'm going to try to finish this story before working so much on my others. (I got seriously inspired on a Kingdom Hearts Riku/Sora story. I haven't posted it yet, but have 3 chapters written, and for a bit that was the only thing I wrote on, as it was my most inspired.) But I think I've been re-inspired for this fic, and I'll try to update it more, as I feel awful about taking so long to update it. (chapter 5 is already in the works. Feel free to post any comments or ideas you might have, and I shall consider them.)

("Hisashiburi" means "It's been a long time since we last met") –yes the translation is that long. P

grr….just went back and discovered over half of the symbols don't show up on this site. So I just went back to make visible breaks on all of my chapters… . 


	5. Of Red Wings and Emotions

_Disclaimer: _ …….I only claim to own the stories and characters that I create, which happens to be nothing belonging to the world of D.N.Angel.

_A/N: _Nothing really to say this time, just a review reply to answer some questions.

_Yukino: _1.)Heh, what's going on with Dark and Krad? Nobody knows! Seriously…this story is mostly about Dai and Sato's side of the story, and since they don't know what's going on, neither does the reader. P I'll write more on it soon though. 2.) Dai will realize he likes Sato…umm…(starts plotting on how and when he'll realize it.) and 3.) All Riku and Dai issues shall be sorted out this chapter.

Happy readings! 

Chapter 5: Of Red Wings and Emotions 

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was maybe an hour or so later when Satoshi heard the loud whistle of the cruiser ship announcing its departure. He chuckled a bit when Daisuke mumbled in his sleep and attempted to bury himself in the covers, and he obligingly pulled the top of the covers backward so that the boy was covered. He stood up and walked across the room to look out the window as the harbor pulled farther from their view. Just as he started to get lost in his thoughts, there was a knock on the door. Having a good idea of who it might be, he sighed and walked over to answer it.

As he pulled the handle, the blunette bit back a groan as his guess was proven right. "Harada-sans, Saehara…" he muttered in greeting.

"Oh, Hiwatari-san…" Risa seemed surprised that Satoshi had answered the door, and he raised an eyebrow, wondering if she had even registered that Daisuke wasn't the only one staying in his room. "We were wondering if Daisuke, and, um…you too wanted to walk around the ship with us. You know, take a self-guided tour and stuff!" It was obvious to him he wasn't included in their tour in the first place.

Blue eyes glanced back to the boy sprawled across the bed, and then he shifted his gaze to Riku. "And you were going to come as well?" he asked, not bothering to hide the cold tone that seeped into his voice.

The girl blushed slightly, then puffed her cheeks in a pout and glared at Satoshi. "Of course!" she answered as if it were the most obvious things in the world.

"Did you plan on apologizing to Daisuke?"

Her mouth dropped open in surprise and slight indignation. After composing herself again, she said "…what for?"

Satoshi's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Risa and Takeshi exchanged nervous glances. But just as Satoshi opened his mouth to tell her just how stupid she was…a shout of his name from behind him drew his attention away.

"Satoooshiiiii!!! SatoSatoSatoSato…" Daisuke shouted. It seems he had woken up, and in a surprising amount of alertness, he jumped from his position on the bed, and ran across the room as if it was on fire…or he was…or both. "Satoshi you'll never believe this!" He tried to slow down as he approached the other boy, but his sock-clad feet gained no traction on the tile in the entryway, and ended up tackling Satoshi full force and slamming him into the door, causing it to close with a loud '_Bang_' in the three visitor's faces.

Satoshi's breath left him in a rush as the red bundle of energy barreled into him. "Daisuke? What the hell's gotten into you…?" he asked after he'd recovered, and was now holding onto the other boy's shoulders as he bounced on his toes.

"I just had the most amazing dream! I…" And suddenly deep furrows appeared on his brow, and he seemed to be concentrating awfully hard on something. "Well, that is…" Then his expression changed and he slowly met Satoshi's eyes with his own wide and surprised. "I don't remember…" he muttered.

Satoshi raised his eyebrows, wondering if the boy had momentarily gone insane. "If you don't remember, then why were you so excited about it?"

"I don't…know…" he whispered, then furiously ran his hands through his hair. "But I know it was important, I know it!" He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping as the sudden burst of energy left him, and he wracked his brains to remember this important dream. He was distracted, however, when the door was knocked upon a second time, and he looked up innocently at the blue-haired boy in front of him. "Someone's at the door, Satoshi."

Satoshi smacked his palm to his forehead, muttering something under his breath, then turned around to open the door again. The corners of his mouth quirked into a small smirk at the look on the other three's faces. Risa looked curious, if not a bit confused, Riku looked rather like a fussy cat with her arms folded across her chest, and Takeshi, well…Takeshi was staring at a pretty girl walking down the hallway.

"Oh hey guys!" Daisuke greeted cheerfully, apparently forgetting about his oh-so-important dream. "What's up?"

Takeshi's attention returned to the front, and he bounded forward to grab Daisuke in a headlock. "Daisuke! My favoritest little redheaded bud!" he teased cheerfully, and Daisuke rather feared the boy for a moment, though his amused grin never faltered.

"Daisuke," Risa interjected before Takeshi could get too carried away. "Would you like to go on a tour of the ship with us? We were just going to go look around for a bit, see what sort of stuff there is to do on the ship."

"Sure!" he answered, eager to explore their home for the next few days. His eyes met with Riku's for a moment, and he grew somber as he tried to read the expression there. Then in an uncharacteristic seriousness, he said "In one second…just let me…" he trailed off and stepped forward, grabbing Riku's wrist as he said, "Riku, can I talk to you for a sec?"

She sent a slightly confused glance back at the rest of the group, and at seeing Satoshi's nearly possessive glare –and rather wondering why he was watching them like that- she scurried after the redhead, having a good idea of what they were going to be talking about.

"Riku…" Daisuke started, not wasting any time beating around the bush once they were at a respectable distance down the hallway. "Where do we stand?"

Riku blinked in surprise. Even though she was expecting this topic of conversation, the bluntness of the statement threw her off a bit. "Well I guess that depends on you, doesn't it?" she asked, not being able to keep the slightly offended tone in her voice.

At the question, Daisuke immediately became defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?" He crossed his arms and looked off to the side. "Last I remember you were in quite the hurry to get away from me." Thoughts of that night also brought back memories of Satoshi, and how unusually kind and…caring, the other boy had been that night. With an awkward start he realized that was the first time he'd seen the boy really hug anyone. Then with a violent shake of his head, he decided to dismiss the pointless thoughts for the moment. After all, he was in the middle of a serious conversation here.

"Well what did you expect?" Her voice was rising now…definitely not good.

"Maybe a bit of support…or concern?" he countered, flinching slightly at the flash in her eyes.

"All that time you keep such a big secret from me…and expect me to be just nonchalant when you come out and say, 'oh by the way, I'm Dark!'?"

Daisuke was having a tough time finding a good basis for such anger. Sure he had kept a secret…but he had good reason. Surely she could understand that it would've been risky to just go around telling anyone on a whim about his alter ego. He felt his own anger building slowly behind unusually calm eyes. They hadn't even officially been going out yet! Their relationship at the time had rather been like an engagement, only pre-dating instead of pre-marriage. Expected, but not official. "No" he finally answered after sorting through the thoughts in his head. "I never expected you to know at all. Just forget it, forget about everything, it doesn't even matter anymore. He's gone anyway…" And as quickly as it had come, Daisuke's anger left him, and he practically deflated as it turned to sadness instead.

Deciding he wanted nothing more to do with this conversation, Daisuke turned and walked back to the group waiting for them. He caught Satoshi's eyes, and noticed there was thinly veiled concern within the sapphire depths, and he gave him a half smile in appreciation, but shook his head to let Satoshi know he'd tell him about it later. This seemed to satisfy the other boy, and he briefly settled a hand on his shoulder, and squeezed lightly once before turning and stating to the reassembled group, "Shall we go, then?"

Daisuke nodded almost too eagerly and stepped to the front, glad that Satoshi deflected any questions by changing the subject. "Yeah! I can't wait to see the ship! Come on, what are we waiting for!" Daisuke shouted as he ran off, allowing the faked excitement to become real as he dashed off to explore, pushing all girl issues to the back of his mind.

Behind the quickly fading redhead, the twins and Takeshi all turned to Satoshi, as if asking for an explanation of the boy's weird behavior. He merely shrugged, grabbing the glasses from his front pocket and putting them on, before heading off after Daisuke at a much slower pace. Riku rolled her eyes and followed as well. The last two of the group exchanged glances, and started walking before they got left behind. It seemed the whole group reached a silent agreement to leave Daisuke and Riku alone for the moment. Takeshi pulled his camera from the bag hanging off his shoulder, not wanting to leave a moment of this trip off the film.

When they reached the end of the hallway and stepped through the door closing off the suits, all problems were forgotten as the vast ocean before them came into view. "Sugoi…" Daisuke whispered, and ran over to the railing, leaning as far over as he could without losing balance.

Satoshi chuckled at the young thief's antics, looking rather like a child in a candy shop for the first time. He walked up and leaned casually against the railing as well, telling Daisuke he'd better not fall. The younger only grinned brightly in response.

By that time, the rest of the group had caught up with them, and there were various exclamations from each person at the beauty of the sea, and the fading horizon of the land they'd just left. "The ship seems so much bigger when you're on it…" Risa muttered with a dazed smile.

Takeshi nodded. "And we haven't seen near all of it yet! Come on guys, lets see if we can cover the whole ship before dinner!" he said and bounded away, taking his turn to lead the group. They passed several classmates on their way around the ship, some hanging out in the dining area, waiting for a large buffet that was to be set up for dinner. They found both an indoor and outdoor pool, and the indoor one had a hot tub right next to it. The girls seemed very excited about that discovery.

As they walked back out the large glass doors separating the two pools, Takeshi decided their tour had become a bit too boring for his tastes. With a mischievous grin and no warning to anyone, he abruptly shoved Daisuke into the pool. Risa gasped and Riku giggled. Satoshi merely raised an eyebrow.

Daisuke surfaced a few seconds later, spluttering as he swam over to the edge. When he finally pulled himself from the pool, he turned a glare towards Takeshi. "What was that for?!"

Instead of answering with something sensible as most people would, Takeshi snickered and said, "Dude, you look like an angry wet cat." And of course his video camera wasn't missing a moment. His comment caused the girls to burst out laughing, and even Satoshi found himself smiling. After all, to him, the boy looked rather adorable with the pout on his face, and his soaked shirt hanging off his small frame.

"Yeah, let's see how amusing it is when I grab that camera and throw it in the ocean." Daisuke muttered, crossing his arms and smirking when Takeshi gasped, looking absolutely appalled.

"You wouldn't!" he cried, hugging the camera to his chest protectively.

"Wanna bet?" Daisuke countered, and leapt towards Takeshi. The other squealed (in a manly sort of way, of course) and began running around the deck, while the other three sat back, laughing and unsure of whether they should interfere or not. That question was answered, however, after the two made another pass by them, and Daisuke slipped in a small puddle made from when he'd climbed out of the pool.

He yelped as he went crashing to the ground. The other four immediately started running towards him, but he wasn't paying any attention. No, all of his focus was on the black and red gem that had just gone flying out of his pocket. "Shit!" he cursed, rather surprising all of those within ear shot, and he leapt up again to chase after the gem, which was bouncing dangerously fast towards the railing of the ship.

Satoshi's eyes widened as he watched Daisuke blindly dart for the gem. "Daisuke!" he shouted, and took off after him.

It almost seemed to happen in slow motion as the gem bounced over the railing, and Daisuke, without even thinking, jumped over the railing into a dive after it. Satoshi mentally cursed the boy's stupidity, and put forth an extra burst of speed. He crashed into the railing, and his glasses flew from his face from the force of impact, falling many feet into the cold waters below. He winced as the bar cut into his chest, but he ignored it as he reached out, and managed to grab onto Daisuke's ankle.

The sudden halt in momentum caused Daisuke to swing back towards the side of the boat, but he managed to brace himself against it with his other foot, and twisted until he could reach a hand up to grab Satoshi's arm, pulling his body back up and onto the safety of the deck. Both boys went tumbling backwards, and they landed sprawled in a tangle of limbs. Daisuke sighed with relief as he cradled the gem in his hands, and Satoshi lay with his eyes closed, heart still beating fast from the fear that had gripped him when he thought he'd been about to lose his only real friend.

"Daisuke…" the blue haired teen whispered.

Hearing his name, Daisuke turned to the boy who was still trapped beneath him, and replied with a soft 'hmm?' But it trailed off when Satoshi opened his eyes, and a sincere worry that Daisuke had never seen etched into the deep blue gaze stared back at him.

Satoshi reached up and gripped Daisuke's shoulders so tight that it was almost painful. "Don't ever do that again!" The whisper was harsh, and desperate sounding, and Daisuke had never known that Satoshi was capable of such emotion. He was about to respond, but it was about that time that Takeshi and the twins were recovering from the shock of the moment, (it had taken them quite a bit longer since they were not used to these sort of events as the two tamers were) and they ran over to check that the two boys were okay.

Daisuke was pulled up and thoroughly checked over for bruises, cuts, and mental trauma. Satoshi, being far less approachable, was asked politely if he was okay, to which he responded with an equally enthusiastic nod.

"Hey, what is that thing?" Takeshi asked as he noticed the gem resting in Daisuke's hands.

The redhead's eyes widened, and he quickly shoved the item back into his pocket. "Nothing" he answered. But he said it far too nervously, and Takeshi narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't sound like nothing…" he responded, stalking towards Daisuke as if to take the jewel from him.

"Saehara." Satoshi barked, leveling a glare in the other boy's direction. "Leave it."

Takeshi gulped, and backed away from Daisuke, causing the boy to let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief.

There was a weighted moment of silence that every member of the group seemed reluctant to break, until finally Riku broke the moment of tension. "Come on…I think this tour's over. How 'bout we go back to our rooms until dinner, you know, unpack and get settled and stuff?"

There were several nods of consent, until Takeshi interjected. "But first we should watch this video!" he exclaimed, sending a loving glance to his camera. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd love to see that moment again when there's no danger of anyone actually going overboard." He looked up, and was delighted when there were a few mutters of agreement. "Alright then, follow me!" and he began walking back in the direction of the living quarters.

When they arrived at his room, Takeshi wasted no time in transferring the camera tape to a blank VHS, and shoving it into the VCR. "And let the good times roll!" he said and bounced onto the bed where the other two boys were seated. The girls had chosen spots on the other one.

There was nothing special about the video at all, until they reached the scene of 'the great rescue'. Daisuke chuckled and mumbled "I really cut it close there, huh?"

Satoshi, in answer, cuffed him lightly on the back of the head. He smirked at Daisuke's indignant cry, but was distracted when he looked back at the tape. "Wait…Saehara, pause the tape." He commanded, and narrowed his eyes in scrutiny at the TV after Takeshi did what he asked. "Daisuke…" he muttered lowly, leaning near the boy's ear and wishing once again that the others weren't around. "I thought you didn't have wings…"

Daisuke tilted his head to the side, and sent Satoshi a confused glance. "I don't." he answered in not nearly as quiet of a voice as the other's. "Only Dark can get Wiz to transform into wings. Why are you saying that now?"

To answer the question, Satoshi pointed to the paused frame on the TV, where the faded image of two red wings could be seen jutting out of Daisuke's back as he took that nosedive off the railing. The boy in question's eyes widened. "But I…" he cut off and stood up off the bed to get a better view.

Risa tilted her head to the side, and turned to Takeshi. "Takeshi, I think your camera's broken."

Takeshi sent her a confused glance, and Satoshi rolled his eyes. "A broken camera would not randomly give people wings, Harada-san." He said in a condescending voice, causing the girl to blush in embarrassment, and glare at the boy who dared insult her.

"I've seen those before."

All heads turned quickly at the soft statement to look at Riku, who was squinting slightly at the TV, but staring off into an image in her head. "That night at the museum, when all that really weird stuff was going on, he had those wings, only they looked more real."

Now it was Daisuke's turn to be the center of attention. "Wings…?" the young teen turned to look over his shoulder, as if to see if the wings were there now. "But, I don't remember them…" he whispered, confusion evident in his eyes.

Satoshi turned to look thoughtfully out the window. "Well you wouldn't, would you?" he asked, thinking back to the time of 'all that really weird stuff'. "I believe at that moment you would've been too preoccupied with losing Dark to notice something behind you."

Daisuke winced slightly at the memory of Dark's expression at that particular moment in time, but shook his head quickly to get rid of the image. Now was not the time. "But I thought it hurt a lot to get wings…" he said with an uncertain glance toward Satoshi as he moved to sit back down on the bed.

He received a slow nod in response. "It has always hurt for me, but that could also be because I'm always resisting it. Who knows, for you it might be different. I think the main concern here, however, is why you would have them. With Dark gone, you should be just as normal as the next person, right?" he asked, sending a look towards Daisuke clearly asking if there were any weird abilities the boy had been hiding from him.

Daisuke nodded in answer, and there was a short silence before Takeshi looked up with a grin. "Well, looks like we've got ourselves a mystery!" he said, looking to the rest of the group for support. The girls seemed to suddenly be interested, Daisuke looked slightly afraid of the glint in the dark haired boy's eye, but Satoshi only glared.

"Stay out of this one Saehara." He barked, suddenly seeming every bit the police commander he was. He stood up, and began to pace the room in front of the TV, hands clasped behind his back. All eyes were on him, but he paid no attention as something was brought to the forefront of his mind that had been forgotten before.

"_Only the red-winged angel can restore the balance once intended."_

Suddenly Satoshi's head snapped up, and he abruptly turned his gaze to Daisuke. He opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to decide against it at the last minute and closed his mouth. Without any warning, he pivoted on his heel, and walked out the door. The resounding 'bang' sounded so much louder in the room that had been stunned into an awkward silence.

"Daisuke…?" Risa asked as they all stared at the closed and innocently silent door.

"Yeah?" he answered, sounding just as out of it.

"What just happened?"

Daisuke shook his head slowly, drawing himself out of his thoughts. "I…have no idea." He muttered, wondering what had suddenly gotten into his blue-haired friend.

- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Satoshi walked swiftly down the halls, only the destination of his room in mind. When he reached his and Daisuke's suite, he swiped his card through the reader, and practically shoved the door open to get into the room. Tossing his card onto the bed, he pulled his computer in his lap, and immediately set to work, eyebrow furrowed in concentration. He had a family history or two to look through, and he had to get past a few firewalls before he could access that particular data. So he set in for a long while of searching.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hours of running, chasing, and semi-fighting found Dark and Krad sitting in the middle of a large field, back to back and utterly exhausted. Dark sighed heavily, and let his head drop backwards against Krad's, eliciting a half-hearted growl from the angel. "Now what…?" he muttered, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of fresh cut grass around them.

"I don't know," Krad answered a bit more roughly. "I hadn't planned any farther ahead than killing you."

Dark chuckled, and reached a hand out to stroke one of the white-feathered wings stretched out near him. "This is starting to feel rather hopeless, isn't it." It was more of a statement than a question.

Krad shuddered lightly as Dark's fingers caressed his wings, and closed his eyes as he let his head fall forward, causing Dark's to fall back further. "We haven't been here long enough to give up hope yet, Dark. Aren't you supposed to be the optimist? Have faith in them…we'll get out of here." He murmured, trying to convince himself as much as the thief behind him.

Dark sighed again and closed his eyes as well. "Yeah…we'll get out…" the words were so light, they were almost lost on the breeze. They sat in a surprisingly contented silence for a few moments, before the wind picked up out of nowhere, and strong storm clouds moved in above them. Both of the boys were immediately on their feet, tensed and ready for anything.

"You do not belong here!" A thunderous voice boomed from above them, and it almost sounded like the storm itself was speaking.

Dark and Krad shared a rather worried glance, before turning their full attention to the clouds above them. What was going on in this sorry excuse for a world anyway? "Well we didn't exactly come here because we wanted to!" Dark shouted, quickly recovering from the shock. Krad slapped a palm to his forehead at Dark's audacity.

"Leave this place!" the voice threatened, not seeming to care that Dark had even spoken at all.

Krad, deciding that worrying about angering the voice wasn't an issue here, answered this time. "Trust me, we would if we could!"

There was a moment's pause –So still that the two boys in the field barely even dared to breathe- before a bolt of lightning struck very near to them, and Dark squeaked in fright as he jumped to hide behind Krad, who rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to admit that his hands were shaking too. Then as suddenly as they had come, the clouds dissipated and they were standing in a calm, sunny field once more.

"I wanna go home…" Dark whimpered, hands tightly grasping Krad's shoulders, and face buried in the golden strands of hair.

Krad could only nod in response, staring disbelievingly at the smoldering hole in the ground barely ten feet away from them.

- - - - - - - - - - ---- - - - - - - - - --

Daisuke yelped as he felt a sudden searing heat against his leg, bringing the other people in the room from their thoughts to look at him curiously. "Are you okay?" Riku asked skeptically.

Daisuke didn't answer as he pulled the gem from his pocket. The red stripes that swirled around it were glowing an angry hue, and Daisuke felt a strange magic that seemed to swirl around his hand before the world around him started to spin, and he dropped to the floor in a dead faint.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: And that's all for this chapter! For so many words, not a whole lot seemed to happen…Oh well. I think I'll make up for that next chapter. Review! For they keep me writing and make me update quicker! )

Huh…over 700 hits, and 27 reviews. I'm happy that so many people stop to look at it, but is it so bad that it's not worth a review? That's an insane difference. I know it's not my best story… (I actually seem to have a hard time pulling it out of the writing style I started with…which was established two years ago. My KH one I'm working on is much better I think…) But anyway, let me know if it's that bad, ya?


	6. Complications

Disclaimer: I may not quite agree to not knowing about the owning of such a thing as to which I might or might not have one point in time never owned. (Haha, watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 again last night. P) Jack awesome.

Japanese terms:

_Urusai-_ literally means 'noisy' but is also used as 'shut up.' I used that instead of the English because I found it was more fitting to the situation.

_Kichou-_ Precious, beloved. (I'll have to trust the dictionary on that, because I haven't learned it in class yet.)

- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - -

Daisuke groaned as he slowly fell back into the world of consciousness. His head was pounding, and his right hand twitched in an attempt to lift it so he might try to rid his head of the pain.

"Oh! I think he's coming to!"

"_Wake up, little one"_

His eyelids felt so heavy…

"Daisuke, can you hear me?"

_Stop yelling…yes I can hear you._

_/D-Daisuke…is that you?/_

_Urusai…_

He tried to clench his left hand, but inhaled sharply through his teeth when the attempted movement sent a shock of pain through his arm. The action did manage to bring him a step closer to being awake, though.

"_Tch, useless"_

_What is?_

_/Dai-chan!/_

He felt a light pat to his cheek. "Come on, Daisuke, wake up."

"Urusai!" Daisuke shouted as he sat up abruptly, eyes wide, and his body shivering slightly from the sudden stress to his mind and body both.

The other occupants of the room were shocked into silence, and Daisuke once again found himself staring into worried blue eyes. "Sa-Satoshi?" he muttered, voice only the slightest bit slurred. "What happened…?"

In a very unusual display of emotion, Satoshi muttered "Oh thank God" almost inaudibly, and pulled Daisuke into a tight hug.

Air left Daisuke in a rush, and his eyes widened at the action. Was he still out? Surely the real Satoshi wouldn't do such a thing, especially in front of other people. Even if he had held him before, it was only because Daisuke had been distraught, but the grip Satoshi held him in now felt genuinely worried. Daisuke's head tucked perfectly under Satoshi's chin, and he felt his own heart beat fast, noticing it nearly mirrored the other's own heartbeat as his hand rested against his chest. What was this feeling? So warm…his eyes drifted closed as the comfort of the embrace seeped into him, until someone cleared their throat somewhere behind Satoshi.

Immediately, but somehow still managing to make it a graceful movement, Satoshi separated himself from Daisuke, and wide crimson eyes blinked confusedly at the sudden change of position. Then his gaze shifted to take in the other three people that were standing in a semi-circle around one side of the bed he currently occupied (hadn't he been on the floor before?). They were all wearing similar expressions of concern.

"You had us worried there, man…" Takeshi voiced for the rest of them.

"We thought you were going to die!" Risa added, voice a slightly higher pitch than usual.

Daisuke tilted his head just a bit to the side, and smiled uncertainly. "Come on guys, I only fainted…" Although he wasn't necessarily convinced that it was that simple even by his own words. The last thing he remembered was pulling a near burning gem from his pocket.

"Daisuke…you were barely breathing, you literally looked almost dead." This time it was Riku who commented, and her voice was much softer, shaking only slightly.

"What?" Daisuke whispered, turning towards Satoshi, who had been almost unusually quiet after his small emotional outburst. "But, I wasn't, I mean…it was only a faint, no need to get so worked up right?" He seemed to be stuck on that fact, and rather was rejecting any idea that what had just happened to him was not normal.

This time Satoshi spoke; his voice was quiet, and his eyes were focused on the wall, staring just over Daisuke's shoulder. "You might say there was if you had seen yourself too…"

_Satoshi was sitting on his bed, absorbed completely in the work he had up on his computer. He had been in his room for hardly five minutes, however, before he was distracted. From the silence suddenly came a banging so loud at his door that he nearly dropped his laptop onto the carpeted floor below him. He managed to catch it, and sent a slight glare to the door, as if it was the one causing such a ruckus. Then his mind caught up to him, and he realized that there was shouting from the other side of that door, and people didn't yell like that for no good reason._

_In a flash of movement, Satoshi was up and at the door, surprised to see Risa Harada standing behind it, a look of worry etched into her features, and face flushed from running all the way to his room. "Harada-san? What-?" But he never got to finish his statement before she grabbed his wrist and tugged him harshly into the hallway. He barely had time to shut the door before he was being dragged away. Her silence was beginning to worry him more than her panicked movements. "What's going on?" he demanded, now keeping pace with her and rubbing his wrist after she released it from her vice-like grip. _

_She sent him a sidelong glance before murmuring, "It's Daisuke."_

_Satoshi's steps faltered before he regained his footing, but she definitely had his full attention now. "What about him? What happened?" he couldn't stop the images flashing through his mind of all the possible things that could've happened to the boy. _

_Risa shook her head, and rounded a corner into another hallway. "We don't know, he just suddenly collapsed and we don't know what's wrong with him!" Her tone was about as comforting as the words to Satoshi's ears. He couldn't leave the boy for five minutes without something happening to him! His picked up the pace, and easily gained a lead on Risa. He had to get to Daisuke._

_When he finally reached Takeshi's door, he practically threw himself at the door handle, silently thanking the others for leaving it unlocked. He left it open for Risa, since she was close behind him, and ran into the room, stopping in shock when he noticed Daisuke's prone form on the bed. His complexion was nearly as white as the sheets below him, and Satoshi had to look closely to see the simple rise and fall of the boy's chest to indicate that he was in fact breathing. _

_Completely ignoring the other two occupants of the room, Satoshi ran over to the bed and sat down, resting his ear against Daisuke's chest where his heart was. After assuring himself that it was a steady beat for a person at rest, he took a deep breath of relief and sat back, waiting for Daisuke to wake up again._

"I'm okay now though. See? I--" But he never got to finish that statement, because as he brought his hands up to prove his own statement, he once again felt the burning sensation in his left one. He hissed in pain, snapping the appendage back to cradle it against his chest. "Owwww…." He moaned, shutting his eyes tight. It really hurt!

With wide eyes, Satoshi reached forward to examine Daisuke's hand. "Daisuke…" he whispered "Let me see." And when the large eyes opened again, they were lined with unshed tears. Slowly, he extended his arm to lay his small hand in Satoshi's larger one, and was surprised himself by what he saw. There, in the very center of his palm, was a large black circle, almost exactly the size of the chaos gem. And from this dark circle, several ribbons of a deep red extended across his hand, to his wrist, and circled around to the back of his hand too.

"Wh-what is that?" Daisuke asked, staring in slight horror and with a bit of fascination at his hand. In a sudden flash, he remembered the pain he'd felt just before he lost consciousness. The chaos gem had been in that hand…

"Whoa…that is so cool!" A sudden voice from their left diverted both boys' attention away from the mark in question (Daisuke actually jumped, as he'd forgotten about the other people in the room), and to an amazed Takeshi, who was stepping toward the bed almost as if in a trance. He reached out as if to touch the strange markings, but as soon as the skin on his fingers made contact with Daisuke's, a vicious shock shot out from the black circle into both boys' hands, and Takeshi leapt back with a yelp, and Daisuke again pulled his hand to his chest.

"What…what was that?" Risa asked, peeking out from behind her sister's shoulder (She had jumped behind Riku at Takeshi's yelp).

Daisuke didn't answer, as he was staring at his hand with his brow furrowed. Now that the pain wasn't all consuming in his mind, he was brought back to a small event that had happened not long after the heist; the first time he had 'spoken' to the gem. The line '_Is he precious to you?'_ kept repeating through his head when he noticed that Satoshi had touched his hand without a problem, but it had very near burned Takeshi. _Is it…trying to protect me? What's going on…?_

"Yeah, Daisuke, tell us." Riku demanded after her twin's question. Perhaps she thought Daisuke had purposefully attacked Takeshi, but to Satoshi, it seemed a habit of hers to become impatient and snippy in the face of something confusing, or beyond her understanding and control.

"Harada" the blue haired teen warned, his tone icy. "He has no better idea of what's happening than you or I. And unless you have anything useful to say, I suggest you keep your mouth shut from now on."

Riku practically bristled, and she returned Satoshi's glare with one equally as venomous. "Oh and you think you're so high and mighty?"

"Riku, please…" Daisuke whispered, but his words were completely ignored as the elder twin continued to speak.

"Just because you have some special family history, and are a commander of the police you think you can order me around?" Satoshi showed almost no outer signs that he was affected by her words, accept that his hands had balled into fists, and his knuckles were turning white from pressure, and Daisuke could see the fire in the other boy's eyes.

"Riku…" Again, Daisuke's soft pleas were paid no mind.

"It seems to me you haven't said anything that was useful to any of us either! I think this _Krad_ or yours you mentioned before just made you some cold hearted bastard who thinks he's better than the rest of us! Or maybe your father taught you that instead?"

She might have gone on, but it was that statement that sent Satoshi over the edge. She may have been speaking through sheer anger, but there was a certain truth to her words, and hearing it spoken out loud like that _hurt._ As soon as that last word left her mouth, he jumped up, muscles tensed and ready to, well, he wasn't even sure what it was he wanted to do, he just wanted her to shut up. But before he could do a thing, and less than a second after he'd stood up, he was stopped.

"THAT'S ENOUGH" Daisuke yelled, leaping from his spot on the bed to stand in front of Satoshi, who looked as if he would literally attack any second. Krad and his father both were quite the sore spots for the boy, and Daisuke knew there would be trouble if he didn't intervene right now. He spread his arms wide in a protective gesture, and when his mind paused long enough to let him notice, he felt an extra, odd sort of weight on his back. His eyes widened, and he glanced behind him. He wasn't entirely surprised, but he was still amazed at what he saw. Two crimson feathered wings jutting from his shoulders. No wonder everyone was so quiet…

Even this new sight of wings, however, could not hold his attention when his eyes locked onto Satoshi's. The expression in their depths was one he would not soon forget, as he'd never seen the other boy look quite so…young, for lack of better words. For once he didn't look angry, superior, or even cold hearted. He looked unsure, upset, and overall angry with himself for even feeling such things.

Slowly, and with disregard for any other people in the room, he turned around, and stepped forward until he was close enough to lean his weight against Satoshi's chest. He brought his hands up and clutched the white button down shirt, deciding to ignore any pain this brought to his hand, and in a move that simply felt natural, his wings curled around the both of them, creating a sort of soft and feathered curtain. Trying to figure out why this felt so _right_, Daisuke leaned his head against the other boy's shoulder, and whispered his name questioningly.

"I want to go back to our room…" Satoshi muttered lowly, and Daisuke nodded, deciding there had been enough confrontation already for such a short time on what was supposed to be a carefree vacation. But before either could take a step away, Daisuke felt his hand burn again –much hotter than before- and an energy swirled around the two which seemed to make them light as air for a few seconds, before dropping them again into gravity's clutches…in their own room.

Slightly disoriented, neither moved for a few moments, before Daisuke finally regained his bearings, and leaned back just a bit. He decided to ignore the unusualness of what had just happened in favor of making sure Satoshi was okay now. "Satoshi?" he whispered uncertainly.

Satoshi seemed unfazed by their sudden transportation, and only dropped to his knees, sighing heavily. "She's right, isn't she." It was more of a statement than a question, and he stared at the far wall absently. "Cold hearted bastard…I suppose that's what everyone thinks of me, huh? Though I guess that's just…who I am." he muttered.

Daisuke couldn't think of anything to say in response. Frankly, the teen did give off that sort of vibe; and even if he did have a reason for it, no one else knew that. "_I_ don't think so…" he whispered, and crawled over to his forlorn friend, climbing into his lap. He made himself comfortable into a little ball, and again tucked his head under Satoshi's chin, finding he very much liked that position.

This time it was a conscious effort when his wings encircled them both, and he once again marveled at how nice it felt to be this close. He tried to recall ever feeling this way with Riku, and while he could remember being happy, it didn't compare to the pleasant tingling he felt all over when he was in such a close proximity with Satoshi. _There's no way I could…_like_ him, is there? _ He wondered to himself. Surely he wasn't gay! But then…he'd never really given it any thought, either. Looking back, his affections towards the Harada twins had both been rather fleeting, and he switched from one 'maiden' to the next so quickly. Suddenly he was brought out of his musings by the feeling of a soft caress brushing across his wing. He smiled at the new sensation, and squirmed a bit. It felt…weird to him.

Satoshi chuckled, and retracted his hand to wrap his arms around the waist of the boy in his lap, trying to push down the elation he felt at such simple actions. "Only you could suddenly sprout a pair of wings and still be more concerned about someone else's emotional state." He said affectionately, voice slightly muffled by a mass of red hair as he rested his cheek atop Daisuke's head.

"What's that supposed to mean…?" Daisuke whined. The answer he received was another chuckle and his hair being ruffled. "Nothing. But I do believe we have more important things to worry about than people's views of my personality." His tone was serious now, and he effectively drove any conversation away from that particular topic. "Let me see your hand." He added.

Daisuke nodded, and scooted back just far enough so that he wasn't sitting in Satoshi's lap anymore, and brought his left hand forward. Now that there were no interruptions, Satoshi was able to study the strange markings better, although he was almost starting to wish he couldn't. "Daisuke…these patterns look like the ones on the chaos gem…"

Swallowing nervously, Daisuke slowly raised his eyes to meet Satoshi's questioning gaze. "I think…I think that _is_ the gem, Satoshi." He mumbled.

"What?"

"Before I suddenly fainted like that, I remember the gem getting really hot, and I pulled it out of my pocket to see why…and it was glowing this red color. I was holding it in this hand when I felt the burning and then when I woke up the gem was gone and this mark was on my hand…"

A silence followed his words that stretched far beyond any amount of time Daisuke was comfortable with. But just as he started to gather his thoughts to say something, Satoshi spoke instead. "Well, this complicates things."

A slight pause. "Oh, well that's assuring. This whole thing was complicated enough to begin with." Daisuke retorted, slight annoyance and apprehension evident in his tone.

Satoshi sighed once more, and brought his hand up in a motion to push his glasses up on his nose before he remembered they weren't there, and hesitantly ran it through his hair instead. "Well, it doesn't change what we can do now. I've started a bit of research on the creator of the gem instead of the object itself, hoping that might give me a bit more information to work with." He stated, motioning vaguely to the computer sitting on the bed. "Daisuke." He added suddenly, voice immediately adapting a business tone. When he had the other's full attention, he continued. "Do you remember that prophecy thing the gem told us?" he felt weird talking about the artifact as if it were a sentient being, but figured there was nothing for it since it did indeed seem to have a mind of its own.

Daisuke tilted his head to the side, recalling the words spoken by the eerie presence from the gem. He nodded in answer. "I do. There were two of them."

Blinking in surprise, Satoshi quickly asked, "What?"

Daisuke nodded. "There was that one that told us the prophecy, and then there was another one that I spoke to later –you were sleeping. It sounded more feminine, but…I think she controls the gem's powers." He slowly started making connections in his mind; a mental game of 'connect-the-dots'.

"What makes you say that?" Satoshi questioned slowly. He didn't quite like not being the one with all the answers. He was used to knowing things.

"Well, before that, I think we've both got our ideas on who the 'red-winged-angel' is?" he said lightly, glancing at his wings, which he fluttered lightly. He grinned again, and giggled. That was just too cool!

Satoshi smiled at the younger boy's antics. Cute. But now was not the time for admiration or affection; they had mysteries to solve here. "Yes I'm sure we've established that fact by now, especially since your hand decided to eat the gem. Suffice to say these things are connected."

Daisuke blinked a couple of times, then snorted with laughter, bringing his hands up in an attempt to muffle the sound. It only lasted for a moment before he burst into fits of giggles, and leaned forward to bury his face in Satoshi's shoulder. Satoshi raised his eyebrows in curiosity, but otherwise said nothing as he waited for Daisuke to calm down. When he finally did manage to reign in control on his laughter, Daisuke managed to speak. "He does have a sense of humor!" he said, leaning back and winking at Satoshi. He smiled and shook his head before becoming serious again. "So now that we've also established the fact that my hand likes to eat things…" and here Satoshi rolled his eyes in good humor as he realized what had set Daisuke off like that "I should tell you that I think what I do because of something that voice told me."

When it seemed Daisuke wasn't going to continue with that statement, Satoshi brought his hand up and rested it lightly against Daisuke's cheek in encouragement, smiling when the boy blushed and found an interesting spot on the wall to the right. "And what did it tell you?"

"Well, I guess asked is more like…she said 'Is he precious to you?' And of course I was confused at first, because she gave me no names or anything, and then I realized she was talking about you. So I said 'yes'. And all she said was 'Very well' and then left. Her presence seemed so warm and she didn't feel threatening at all." He was well aware he was starting to ramble, but he couldn't help it. Admitting his words, he couldn't quite pinpoint the feeling, but the closest that came to it was 'nervous', and when he saw the expression in Satoshi's eyes, one that was surprised and pleased in one, well, he just looked away and kept talking.

"But I think that's why Takeshi got hurt when he touched my hand, but you didn't. I think…I think it's trying to protect me. From what, or whom, I don't know. I don't even know why! I-" Daisuke suddenly stopped talking as a finger was pressed against his lips. He looked up in surprise to see Satoshi smiling at him.

"Calm down, Daisuke." He whispered, bringing his hand back down so he could lean back, placing his hands behind him for support. "Just one question." He said, deciding to push down the small joy from Daisuke's words for now; after all, 'precious' could mean just as a friend too. "If it's trying to protect you, then why does it hurt you as well?" he asked, lifting one eyebrow to add to the effect of the question.

When Daisuke only tilted his head to the right –a habit of the boy's that Satoshi found endlessly endearing- he explained further. "When Saehara touched your hand, you flinched just as much as he did. And several times you've held it as if your wrist was broken. Why would it hurt the one it's supposed to protect?"

"Well…" Daisuke started, and hesitated. "I don't…I guess I hadn't really thought about that. "It's just a feeling I get." Here he glanced down at his hand, brow furrowing in thought.

Satoshi sighed in response, massaging the bridge of his nose with one hand in order to ward off a headache he knew was forming. "Okay." He said, voice much calmer now. "With all this stuff going on, we're just going to take all this one step at a time. First," here he glanced at his watch "we're going to go to dinner –which starts in half an hour- as they're probably going to want to make some more announcements or something. And when we get back, I'm going to work on doing some more research about what's going on."

Daisuke's eyes fluttered closed and he inhaled deeply through his nose, very much comforted by Satoshi's calm tones, and nodded. Then suddenly a thought crossed his mind and his eyes snapped open. "But Satoshi, what about the wings, and my hand?"

The older boy seemed to consider this for a moment, before he seemed to figure something out in his mind. "Try focusing on making the wings disappear." He said, standing up and walking towards the bathroom.

"But I-" he stopped and sighed. "Well, okay…" and he closed his eyes, concentrating on making the wings disappear, or retreat to his back, or whatever they did when they weren't on obvious display to the world. And to his surprise, he felt a slight tingling feeling in his shoulder blades, and when he opened his eyes again, the wings were gone, leaving only two unfortunate holes in the back of his shirt as evidence they'd ever been there at all. Daisuke grinned in satisfaction, and turned to see Satoshi smiling slightly as well, holding what appeared to be a first aid kit. "What's that?" he asked, though the 'what' was rather rhetorical, as he mostly just wanted to know _why_ Satoshi was holding it.

"This" Satoshi answered, sitting cross-legged in front of Daisuke again. "Is a first aid kit. Now give me your hand." He commanded as he flipped the lid on the kit and began pulling out the bandages meant to be wrapped around either a large wound, or could double as a brace for a light sprain.

Daisuke looked at him curiously, but obeyed anyway. "Why? It's not an injury, you know."

"I know, but you don't want to go flaunting this around, do you? This bandage is to hide it, and to make sure you don't somehow hurt someone by accidentally touching them. The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves, or any of this." Satoshi answered, talking around the bandage's clasp in his mouth.

Satisfied the bandage looked okay, and wasn't too tight, he used the clasps to secure it in place, and patted Daisuke's wrist. "If anyone asks, just say it's a light sprain. Say that you twisted it when tossing your luggage into the room or something."

Daisuke nodded, and whispered a small 'thank you' before getting up to get a new shirt from his suitcase. He couldn't very well go to eat with the class with those two gaping holes in his current one. So he grabbed a different shirt –a nicer button up one- and, oblivious to Satoshi's slightly surprised stare, changed where he was.

He turned back around with a smile, and Satoshi quickly looked away, hoping Daisuke didn't figure out he'd been staring. He didn't quite have to worry though as Daisuke was distracted by his own stomach growling, and he laughed when Satoshi looked to him with his eyebrows raised. "Guess I'm more hungry than I thought I was. Come on, lets go to dinner!" he said excitedly, grabbing Satoshi's wrist and practically dragging him out the door, almost just as Risa had done earlier that day.

Satoshi smiled at the other boy's ability to go from worried to carefree and cheery like this in a near split second.

Dinner was, for the most part, rather uneventful. The teachers gave announcements about a few of the activities they had planned, and what other sort of entertainment one could find about the cruise ship. The two boys sat apart from the twins and Takeshi, none of them quite willing to face the others yet after what had transpired earlier that afternoon. Daisuke was asked about his hand a few times, but for the most part the boys were left alone, which worked fine for them. Daisuke's eyes started drooping near then end of dinner, and he was more than happy to comply when the teachers told them to go to their rooms and get some sleep.

After showering (separately of course), and getting ready for bed, Daisuke let out a huge yawn as he plopped down into the bed by the window. "What a day…" he muttered as Satoshi turned out the light, then pulled back the covers of his own bed, and lay down in a much more dignified manner.

"Yeah."

"Satoshi?"

"Hmm?"

Daisuke turned on his side, watching for a moment as the moonlight from the window glinted off of the other boy's sapphire eyes. "We're gonna fix this soon, right?" he asked, knowing that Satoshi couldn't have a definite answer, but needing to hear one anyway.

"Of course we will Daisuke. We'll figure it all out and then enjoy the rest of this vacation like we should." He answered, letting out a small yawn of his own after the statement.

Daisuke nodded in answer, burrowing further under the covers and allowing the soft rocking of the boat to lull him to sleep. Just before he fell into the clutches of unconsciousness, he whispered into the dark, "Goodnight Satoshi."

"Goodnight…kichou."

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Sorry I took a bit longer for this one. Guess I hit a slow spot in the chapter where I stopped writing for a couple of days. Anyway, I hope this is up to standard for ya ) It is a little longer than normal at least.

I think next chapter I'll get into the Chaos Realm a bit more, and you'll find out a bit more about what's going on there (since I just figured it out for myself while writing this chapter P).


	7. The Chaos Realm

Sorry this one took a little longer to update…I've discovered it's very dangerous to leave a chapter off on an ending note like that. If it doesn't end in a cliffhanger, or at least something close, it's very hard to pick up a new chapter, since you have to start it with a new idea. 

And a huge thank you to all my reviewers! This is the most I've gotten on any one chapter. By the way, a bit more Satoshi view in this chapter. I guess he was feeling neglected. Silly Satoshi.

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Chapter 7: The Chaos Realm 

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When Daisuke woke again the next morning, he wasn't surprised this time to hear the soft tapping of fingers against a keyboard on the other side of the room. He allowed himself to fall slowly back into the conscious world, relishing that feeling of being just awake enough to be vaguely aware of the comfort of your bed. As he woke just a little bit more, he turned to his side, and opened his eyes just a crack to watch Satoshi's form typing away. He didn't want to say anything to break the deep look of concentration, so he decided to just watch, content to lay there and get lost in his own thoughts.

Not too surprisingly, he found his thoughts again wandering to the gem, as it was the most pressing matter on his mind at the moment. Slowly he lifted his left hand in front of him, and began to unwrap the bandages he'd never bothered to take off the night before. Once they were in a nice little pile on his stomach, he ran the fingers of his right hand gently over the markings, frowning as he did so. Why were they cold? Before, the gem was always warm to him. He was only half aware of the rhythmic typing falling into the silence of the room.

"_Because you are ignoring us."_

Daisuke jolted fully awake with a start, sitting up in surprise. "What?" he whispered, staring intently at his hand.

From the other bed, Satoshi's head quickly turned toward the noise, and he looked on in confusion as Daisuke started talking to his hand.

"_If the red winged angel stays away…_he _comes out to play."_

Daisuke blinked a couple of times. "Umm…ignoring how cliché that statement sounded…what the hell are you talking about?" If it was strange talking to a design on his hand, the young redhead didn't show it.

Satoshi raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and slight amusement. He cleared his throat, and not really knowing what to say, he simply decided on, "Umm…Daisuke?"

For the second time that morning, Daisuke found himself jumping in surprise, and he looked over to his current roommate with wide eyes. "Oh, er…good morning Satoshi."

"Do you always talk to your hand when you wake up in the morning?" he asked with a slight smirk.

Daisuke's brow furrowed for a second. "What…Oh!" He laughed nervously, bringing his hand back to his side. "She was talking to me again."

"She?"

"Yeah…that one that I told you about that talked to me before."

"Ah." Satoshi hummed in understanding. "Well don't let me interrupt then." He said, the amused smirk coming back as he turned back to his computer and began typing again.

Daisuke felt slightly put out without even knowing why as Satoshi seemingly started just ignoring him. He glanced back at his hand for a moment, but when no further comment was forthcoming from the infused gem, he huffed and looked back over at Satoshi. As he looked at the other boy, hair slightly mussed, and clothes rumpled from sleep, he got the oddest urge to crawl over and place himself in his lap.

A light blush grazed his cheeks as this thought passed through his mind, and he turned to face the blank TV in front of him. He realized more and more thoughts and ideas like this were beginning to make themselves known in his head. How could he be thinking such things about _Satoshi_? He was supposed to feel things like this for Risa, or Riku, or any other girl for that matter –and he conveniently chose to forget the fact he'd gone over that fact in his mind before. But now he was feeling more and more desires to touch, and even kiss one of his closest male friends…

Red eyes shot open. Kiss? No. Did he say kiss? No, there was no kissing here! Who said anything about kissing? With his blush far more pronounced now, he slid his eyes sideways, sneakily glancing at the blue haired boy. Images of yesterday flashed through his mind, and he remembered how nice it felt to be held by him. Again he found himself comparing Satoshi's touches to Riku's, and came to an earth-shattering decision. He liked Satoshi's touches far better.

His eyes again returned to the front, but this time they held a 'deer caught in the headlights' expression. _I like him…_ he thought dazedly. When had that happened? It was only in the last couple of days that he had parted from Riku. Before then, Satoshi was a friend, and Riku was going to be his girlfriend. Now? Well, now he found it kind of hard to wrap his mind around the fact that he actually liked a boy as more than a friend. Then again, hadn't Takeshi always teased him for being just a bit feminine?

_But what about Satoshi?_ His mind asked him worriedly. _Should I tell him? Would he freak out? Then again, Satoshi seemed happy enough to be close to me yesterday…"_

Daisuke let out a slightly frustrated and entirely unintelligible garble of noise, and ruffled his hair before hiding his face in his hands. When he lifted his head up, he glared at his hand as if all these feelings were entirely the gem's fault. Then he turned his head, and let out a surprised 'meep!' as he saw that Satoshi was staring at him strangely. His stomach fluttered as that blue gaze focused on him, and he cursed whatever deity decided it would be funny to mess with his head. "Erm…don't mind me…I'm just, umm…how 'bout breakfast?" he stuttered out, wincing when his voice cracked.

Satoshi's eyebrows raised, as he observed Daisuke's red face, and wide eyes. "Breakfast?" he asked slowly, making sure he'd gotten at least something out of the sentence. Daisuke nodded furiously, giving no verbal response. "Right…" Satoshi muttered, closing his computer and setting it to the side. "Well, lets go get it then." He said hesitantly, mind running over several possibilities for Daisuke's strange behavior. He wasn't able to think on it long, however, as Daisuke interrupted his musings.

"Did you find anything?" he asked, pushing his feelings to the side for now, and indicating Satoshi's computer.

Satoshi glanced back at the laptop, and sighed while running a hand through his hair. "I haven't been up that long, so I haven't been able to get to the information I need yet." He answered, pulling his clothes for the day out of his suitcase.

"Oh" Daisuke mumbled, not really knowing what else to say as he too retrieved his clothes for that day, and retreated to the bathroom to get ready.

The rest of their time on the ship was spent in a similar fashion. Satoshi could be found, more often than not, sitting in front of his computer looking up information, and writing Daisuke could only guess what into a journal he kept near him.

Daisuke, on the other hand, was far less calm when going through his day. He split his time between two activities; trying to be near Satoshi, and trying to avoid him. He couldn't decide which he wanted since his newfound discovery about his own feelings, and had never wished so much for Dark's presence so that he might get some advice on what to do.

Satoshi, for his part, was being driven insane by Daisuke's erratic behavior. The first day, he was starting to gain hope that Daisuke might actually return some of his feelings as well. Then day two, the boy was skittish, and kept disappearing around the ship, although that part is understandable at least since they are, after all, on vacation. And on day three he couldn't seem to decide what he wanted.

Day four, Satoshi was seriously considering tying the boy down and asking what the hell his problem was. He tried to ignore all the other thoughts that went through his mind at the mental image of Daisuke being tied down anywhere.

Throughout the morning Satoshi had sat on his bed searching through museum files, while Daisuke was nowhere to be found. He finally did show up, saying the island was in sight and they were being told to get their stuff packed and ready to get off. Satoshi nodded, but watched Daisuke carefully. The boy had walked in looking a little down, and Satoshi was going to ask him about it, but Daisuke was already packed and heading out the door before he could get a word out. So with a sigh, and a promise to confront Daisuke later (shouldn't be too hard since they _are_ rooming together), he gathered his stuff and walked out onto the deck where most of the rest of the class was milling about, watching the island resort come into view.

It only took a moment to find Daisuke, hair blowing lightly in the breeze as he leaned against the railing. Satoshi's hand twitched as he resisted the urge to step up and wrap his arms around the boy. He was actually saved from the trouble of keeping himself from doing such a thing as Riku walked up to him instead.

Satoshi stopped the hesitant step forward he'd been taking, and observed the two with a suspicious eye as Riku seemed to be acting a little more friendly than she had in the last several days. His eyes narrowed when Riku walked up and practically hung herself off of Daisuke's arm, and scooted just a bit too closely to his side. He couldn't see Daisuke's reaction at first, since he'd turned his head away to face Riku.

He watched as Daisuke subtly tried to pull his arm from her grip, but to no avail. There were a few words exchanged, and then Daisuke caused everyone in the near vicinity to jump as he suddenly jerked his arm from Riku's grip, and yelled "Just leave me alone, would you?!" And then he grabbed his suitcase and stomped off in a huff toward the ramp that was just being lowered as a bridge for the students to get back on land.

Satoshi didn't know whether to follow Daisuke and ask what happened, or go up to Riku and demand an explanation. He decided on the latter.

His steps were casual as he approached the brunette, who was currently glaring angrily at the sea, refusing to move for the moment as the rest of the students quickly recovered from their shock and were herded off the ship by the teachers. He leaned against the railing, much in the same position as Daisuke had been before, and stood in silence for a few seconds. Apparently that was all it took.

"I didn't do anything, okay?!" she huffed, stamping her foot.

Satoshi turned his head to her and raised an eyebrow. "Did I say you did?"

Riku grumbled, still staring out at the ocean. "You were thinking it."

Satoshi smirked in turn. "Perhaps. So what did you say to him?"

"What's it matter to you?" she snapped, turning the glare onto him instead.

"Well, now I'm going to be rooming with a very grumpy Daisuke. I'd rather like to know what subjects to avoid so as not to make it worse." He replied smoothly. It was true, at least.

She snorted in answer. "What the hell does he see in you?" she muttered, half to him and half to herself.

Satoshi blinked, and his calm demeanor faltered just a bit. "Pardon?" He had to be sure he'd heard that right.

"I said" Riku ground out through a clenched jaw "What the hell does he see in you?"

Satoshi was sure his heart skipped a beat at that moment. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to sound too curious for fear of being too obvious with his feelings.

"Tch. You know what I mean. Daisuke didn't leave me because of me, he left me for you!"

Ignoring for a moment the meaning her words held for him, Satoshi decided instead to focus on the statement she made about herself. "Now wait a minute. What do you mean he left you? If I recall, you are the one that walked out on him first."

"Funny he said something very similar."

Is that what they had been talking about a moment ago? "Well, he has a point doesn't he?"

"No"

It took a moment for Satoshi to realize that was all she was going to say about it. He looked at her incredulously, quite at a loss for words. "What are you, in denial?"

"Denial's not just a river in Africa."

"Umm…are you going somewhere with that?"

"Oh why don't you just go back to your little _boyfriend_ and stop interrogating me?!" And with that statement Riku made it obvious that the conversation was over, as she spun around, grabbed her bags, and stalked off.

Satoshi blinked stupidly after her for a moment. What the hell had they just talked about? _That was probably the most pointless conversation I've ever had…_ he thought to himself with a frown. Although…there were a few things he was going to have to ask Daisuke about later. With a great sigh, he too grabbed his bags and followed his classmates to find his room for the next four days, with both excitement, and a nervous anticipation resting on his heart.

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"We've passed that tree already."

"No we haven't."

"Yes we have!"

"The tree you're thinking of was purple."

"But that one is—! Oh wait, it's yellow now. But it was purple!"

"Dark, have you noticed that these trees pass us just as much as we pass them?"

"Okay…now you're not making any sense."

Letting out an angry snarl, Krad wrapped his fists in his hair, and very nearly pulled the long strands out in frustration. "And also, if you haven't noticed, _nothing _around here makes any sense!"

"Well way to point out the obvious."

Krad's eye twitched. "Dark…if you don't shut up, I'm going to rip off your arms and stab you in the eye with them."

Dark grimaced. "Erk…Thanks for the visuals, Krad."

"Anytime."

"So where are we going, anyway?"

"Well _I'm_ trying to get away from you, but for some reason you keep following me."

Dark huffed. "Krad…you promised we'd work together." He whined.

"Yeah, well, that was before I knew you'd be so insufferable."

"You just don't know how to have fun."

"Now is not the time for fun, Dark."

Suddenly Dark stopped and dropped to his knees, causing Krad to look back in surprise. "Dark…?"

"What are we doing, Krad?" he asked, playful tone gone. "Why are we even walking anywhere? What could we possibly get accomplished by wandering aimlessly through such a place? Hell, that's probably what happened to all these people…they just kept walking until they were driven insane by the stupid-ass trees that follow people just to trick them and then make fun of them and they'll never escape because they just keep walking without knowing where to go and—!"

SMACK 

Dark blinked in surprise as the stinging of his cheek brought him out of his increasingly hysterical rant. His breathing was erratic, and he looked to Krad with wide eyes. The fallen angel was breathing heavily as well, and his hand was still in front of him, making sure he wasn't going to have to slap the thief again.

"Dark…shut _up_. Just shut up, okay?"

The dark haired man was rather unnerved by the tone in Krad's voice, and he was starting to feel that his temporary traveling companion was far more worried than he let on. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

Krad sighed heavily, and dropped down so that he was sitting directly in front of Dark. "Don't be sorry Dark, just stop with these PMS mood swings of yours! One minute you're acting all immature, and the next you're practically hyperventilating, and I can't keep up and I really don't need the extra stress of dealing with you!" He sighed again, and placed his hand on top of Dark's head, making eye contact and somehow trying to convey all his thoughts through the gaze. "No I don't know where we're going, but I don't think it'd do any good to just stay in one place either. Now, can you stop with these random panic attacks of yours and just try to help me search around for clues to a way out of here?"

Dark nodded slowly, and stood up to follow the blonde. They were both silent for a good five minutes before Dark decided to speak again. "Hey Krad?"

The only response was a grunt of acknowledgment, so Dark took that as a sign to continue. "You saw Daisuke too, right? I mean, that wasn't just a dream, was it?" he asked hesitantly, half afraid Krad would reach around and slap again…for no good reason.

After a short pause, Krad said, "You mean after that storm guy attacked us?"

"Mm-hm"

"Yeah. Yeah I saw him."

"You don't think he got trapped in here too, do you?"

Krad shook his head. "No, his image was too faint. He wasn't pulled in like we were. So don't worry, your little tamer's fine." He ended with a snort.

Dark blinked at the tone, and tilted his head to the side, as if seeing Krad from this view would give him the answer to some unknown question. Then he trotted up next to the blonde, and said nonchalantly, "Jealous?" He couldn't help the smirk that graced his face as Krad spluttered in surprise.

"Of you?"

"Of Daisuke."

"You're an idiot, Dark."

"Denial's not just a river in Africa, ya know."

Krad answered with a deadpan stare. "Please Dark, that is the most overused phrase—"

"And it never gets old!" Dark grinned, and shoved Krad playfully.

They would have begun another chase, but just as Krad was about to lunge, large black clouds began forming from nothing in the sky, and started swirling rather menacingly.

"Uh oh…" Dark muttered, staring apprehensively at the clouds and backing away slowly.

"I warned you!" boomed the unknown voice.

This time it was Krad who responded first. "Well, it's not like we could've actually heeded that warning! We've been trying to get out of here since we got here!"

"INSOLENCE!"

Krad looked very affronted. "Excuse me?!" He opened his mouth to say something more, but Dark and Krad both were surprised speechless when chains –actual silver, and solidly metal chains- lashed from the clouds quick as lightning, and wrapped around Krad, pinning his wings to his body and squeezing far beyond the point of uncomfortable.

"Krad!" Dark yelled, and tried to jump forward to save him, although how he was going to go about doing so he had no idea, but he too was wrapped in chains quicker than he could hope to avoid them. Then they were both pulled into the darkness of the clouds, and were unconscious before they could clearly grasp the fact that they had just been captured.

(- - - -)

Dark groaned as he felt pain flood through him. It was the first thing he was aware of, and the obvious indicator that he was now very much awake.

"About time you woke up. That's the second time I've had to wait for you to regain consciousness. Sure take your sweet time, don't you?"

Dark's eyes snapped open, and he glared at Krad for only a second before putting his eyes to better use, and scanned the area they'd been taken to. It was almost like a dungeon, but at the same time it wasn't. The floor and walls and ceiling were completely made out of stone, and there were no windows to be found. There was a candle mounted in each corner of the room, and a large and elaborately decorated carpet in the middle. On the wall opposite the two prisoners was a rather large bookshelf, stuffed full of all sorts of books.

Dark began to step toward them, hoping they might hold some sort of useful information (and completely ignoring the logical sense that no one should be stupid enough to leave so much information so easily accessible to prisoners) but he met resistance quickly when he tried to move his arm forward to brace his hand against the floor. He tugged again, and the rattle of chains echoed through the stone chamber. He sighed and slumped backwards against the wall. "You're awfully quiet." He muttered dejectedly, slightly surprised that Krad had said nothing that entire time.

"Yes, well, I figured you would understand our situation soon enough on your own without me having to waste my own breath explaining."

"Hn."

"Oh, so _now _you decide to be quiet."

Dark flashed him a half-hearted grin. Krad glared back, and his golden eyes glinted like a cat's in the candlelight.

"Beautiful…" Dark whispered as the eyes captured his attention.

Krad's eyes widened, and he felt the lightest of blushes stain his cheeks despite himself. He quickly turned his head away, angry with himself for being sappy. Never should he allow himself to be flattered by Dark, or anyone for that matter. Besides that they were prisoners! Didn't Dark have better things to occupy his mind? Then again he shouldn't expect Dark to be so serious, even if he had proven recently that he could.

Before Krad could start confusing himself with his own thoughts, a door previously unnoticeable in the wall on their right opened up, and a figure stepped through, unidentifiable as his features were silhouetted against the bright light behind him.

"I told you to leave" The voice was instantly recognizable as the same one that spoke within the storm.

Twin glares were sent toward the man, but he simply ignored them and stepped farther into the room so that his features were distinguishable. He looked to be a man in his thirties or so, with a square face and bold jaw. His brown hair reached just below his shoulders, and was pulled back. The ponytail was a small mass of frizzy and untamable strands. His eyes were sky blue, and looked as if they were very much accustomed to be being narrowed in anger or annoyance. His clothes looked like that of royalty, and hung off of him in billowing folds of cloth. All in all he was a rather impressive sight. Imposing, but impressive.

After a short observation of the man, Dark remembered his entering words, and replied, "And we told you we couldn't."

The blue eyes narrowed further, and the scrutiny in his eyes was obvious. "Yes…the sarcastic one. The spirit of the Niwas. Nothing but trouble."

Dark opened his mouth to ask why this man knew about him, but was unable as Krad snickered, and the man's attention was drawn to him instead.

"And you. The embodiment of Hikari. He dragged you into this didn't he?" he asked gruffly, jabbing a thumb in the direction of Dark, who looked slightly put out at that statement.

Krad decided to ignore the question for now, and said instead, "How do you know about us?"

It soon became painfully obvious that they were not going to get any information out of this man as he replied with a very terse, "None of your damned business," and walked out of the room, leaving the other two to stare blankly after him.

Beyond the building holding the two 'trespassers' captive, on a hill nearby, a woman, seemingly in her twenties with long, beautiful red hair and bright hazel eyes, stood staring sadly at the events happening in her own world. The two spirits were captured…this was bad. She had to get the angel before her nemesis discovered the power of his two captives. With a determined look settling across her features, she turned on her heel, and seemed to vanish into the very air around her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - - -

Satoshi glared at the staircase before him. He was by no means out of shape, and was quite accustomed to running up and down stairs and through corridors, and performing other amazing acrobatic feats. But did they really have to put his room on the _7th floor?_ He sighed in annoyance, grabbed his suitcase, and began lugging it up the stairs. The elevators were far too crowded, and he'd probably have to wait half an hour just before he could get on the stupid thing. And he wanted to talk to Daisuke now. So, stairs it was.

When he finally made it all the way up, and with minimal damage to his person, (he'd dropped the suitcase on his toe once) he opened the door to find that Daisuke, of course was already in the room. It was rather strange, however, to walk in to see the boy sitting cross-legged on his bed, and staring blankly at the red wall behind the headboard…with his back to the TV and the rest of the room.

He decided to tuck his stuff away before confronting the smaller boy on, well, everything, and he felt eyes on him the whole time. When he finally turned to face Daisuke, it was to see Daisuke with his head tilted in a typical pose, and those red eyes watching him intently, contemplatively. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Daisuke said "Let's watch a movie, Satoshi."

Slightly surprised by the statement, Satoshi replied smartly, "What?"

Daisuke smiled then, and slid off the bed to walk toward the entertainment center. "A movie. Look," and here he opened the doors of the oak wood entertainment center, and pointed to a row of DVDs on a shelf underneath the TV. "They provided some movies, and since we've got some free time, let's watch one."

It was slightly entertaining, in Daisuke's opinion, to watch Satoshi when he was confused, or unsure of something. It seems he had been able to throw him off quite well with the quick suggestion to watch a movie. But then Satoshi agreed, and when asked what he wanted to watch, said he didn't care. So Daisuke searched through the movies, and finally decided on "The Emperor's New Groove." He plugged it in, and turned to find Satoshi had already made himself comfortable on his bed, leaning against a pile of pillows with his arms behind his head and his legs crossed.

Daisuke walked over and turned off the lights and grabbed the remote from the TV stand. He looked back and forth between the two beds before deciding to join Satoshi on his. The other boy seemed very surprised when Daisuke crawled onto his bed, but he didn't stop there. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, and knowing he'd never know for sure if he didn't act on his feelings, he crawled up until he reached the other boy, and turned around, settling down in the convenient space made by Satoshi's crossed legs. He sighed contentedly and leaned back against Satoshi's chest, noting just how very warm he felt at this moment.

Satoshi, however, froze completely, and Riku's words began running through his head. Maybe she hadn't just been over exaggerating things in her anger when she had said, 'go back to your boyfriend'…But what, exactly, had the two been talking about? What had Daisuke told her…? Slowly recovering from his shock, Satoshi realized that Daisuke wasn't moving, and he was wasting a perfect opportunity here. But did Daisuke realize what he was implying? Was he doing it on purpose? Cautiously, he brought his arms down and wrapped them around the smaller boy's stomach, and was delightedly surprised when Daisuke's hands moved to cover his own.

Poor Satoshi was finding it just a little harder to breathe at the moment, and his heart was beating rapidly. The object of his deepest affections was sitting here…in his lap…resting against his chest…a position typically reserved for lovers. He found he was only able to pay half of his attention to the movie, as funny as it was, as long as Daisuke was sitting so temptingly, so close…

Before he was able to register what he was doing, Satoshi had leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Daisuke's neck just below the ear. He heard Daisuke's breath hitch, and he brought his mouth up to graze his teeth against the boy's earlobe. He paused for a moment, and when no objections were forthcoming, he again lowered his mouth to Daisuke's neck, laying a trail of kisses from his ear all the way down to his shoulder. He then found a spot in the middle, and bit lightly. Daisuke squeaked in surprise, and Satoshi licked the area to soothe it, before sucking gently, eliciting a delightful moan from the action.

Satoshi was fast becoming intoxicated, and the noise from the TV faded as the scent, and very presence, of Daisuke overwhelmed him. Never had he dreamed he would actually have the opportunity to express his feelings for the boy, much less do anything such as this. He trailed open-mouthed kisses back up Daisuke's neck, and stopped at a spot just below his jaw, while one of his hands moved slowly under the boy's shirt, and he scraped his nails lightly against the flat stomach.

"S-Satoshi…" Daisuke shivered, and sank just a bit in Satoshi's grip, whimpering at the new sensations. If there was any doubt before as to where his affections lay, it was definitely gone now. His whole body felt pleasantly warm, and he twisted around in Satoshi's grasp, determined to make his feelings known. But just as he opened his mouth to say something, (or it could have been for a kiss, he wasn't entirely sure) a searing pain shot through his hand.

Yelping in surprise and pain, Daisuke grabbed his hand and doubled over, cradling the appendage against his stomach as if to soothe the burning. Satoshi instantly became concerned, and placed his hands on Daisuke's shoulders. "Daisuke? Daisuke! Are you ok? What's wrong?"

His questions went unanswered, and Daisuke looked up with pleading eyes. Though pleading for what, Satoshi had no idea. To both boys' surprise, the bandage actually burned away from the violently glowing mark on his hand, and the great red wings again burst forth from his back. Daisuke winced, and his eyes widened in a sudden realization. "She's calling me…" he whispered.

"Calling you?"

Daisuke was sure he'd never seen Satoshi's eyes look so uncertain. "Yeah…I think…she says she needs me."

"Needs you where?!" Satoshi asked, feeling dread pool in his stomach.

"To her…" Daisuke answered, and suddenly he became limp, and slumped forward in Satoshi's grasp, losing consciousness for the second time because of the gem in his hand.

"Daisuke? Daisuke?!" he shook the still form to no avail, and Satoshi had to fight hard not to let panic take over. "Shit…" he muttered much more quietly. Could there never be a normal moment in either of their lives?

Immediately Satoshi reached over the side of his bed and grabbed his laptop, whipping it open and turning it on. His fingers had never flown over the keys faster than they did at that moment. He had to find that document again…it just might be the way to help the boy that lay in such a seemingly peaceful sleep across his lap.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And therein lies the end of chapter seven. That little romance scene was actually the most I've ever written beyond a hug, which is probably really sad considering I'm in a fandom that practically thrives on lemons. I would rate that scene…what, an orange? Lol. But yeah, like I told one reviewer, I have no experience in writing romance stuff that isn't simple innocent fluff.

I was originally going to add the scene just after this to this chapter, but it started feeling like too much crammed into one chapter, so I'll just write it in the next one. For once I think loss of the internet was actually a good thing, since it made me write this. (I went home for the weekend, and the computer with the wireless router has a virus…so I've got no internet…sucks. I can post this when I get back to the dorm though.)

And amazingly enough, I think there might only be a couple to a few more chapters left in this, and then it will become my first story ever to have been finished!

This chapter didn't have quite as much about the Chaos Realm as I'd originally intended, but I think it was just enough to raise some questions. ::grins::

Next Chapter: you'll find out everything about the gem, and why it does what it does and stuff, and the story behind it. (Hope it won't be too boring…), and umm, well I'll see from there what else I might want to add.


	8. In Which There Are Answers

Oh man, so sorry about the wait guys. I totally wrote myself into a hole with this stupid thing. Or a wall. This chapter was hella hard to get started.

The other reason this has taken longer to update is the approach of finals, and other tests I've recently had. Both my history and math grades are under the threat of failing, and I'd rather not have to take them again (the last history course I ever have to take!) so I've been kinda stressing about that and ignoring this story. Gomen nasai!! Watashi wa ganbarimasu! (I'll do my best!)

K- creeps, huh? Heh, well, I thought about it a bit afterward, and it crossed my mind that, these boys _are_ only 14. So they will not be going any farther than that little display of affection. Satoshi's just a bit more mature than most, so it's not entirely impossible. And sorry to those of you who are hoping for more…but it's really just not right. (And I promise I'll finish it!! Just be patient::hides for fear of her life::)

One more note. The way I wrote this was entirely purposeful, so don't worry if you're confused for a bit, because I meant it that way. It was not a lapse of sanity on my part.

Japanese: (You don't really need to know these, as I use them for names, but just in case you wish to know)

Setsubou - Longing

Heion – Peaceful, calm

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

**Chapter Eight: In Which There Are Answers**

**-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

If anyone had been watching Satoshi's computer screen at the moment, they probably would have told you it just looked like he was flying through random screens, windows, and programs but not doing anything.

But he was in fact doing something. He was doing many somethings. Or rather, he was doing one big something through a bunch of little somethings…well let's just say he was busy.

His brow furrowed as he searched through layers and layers of documented notes, files, records, and private info. There just had to be something about this gem somewhere. Every one of his ancestors left something about their work behind. Even if it wasn't in some museum file, a piece of Hikari work was never left completely unidentified. It was just a family rule!

It was in a tightly secured file, along with many notes and documentations on the Hikari family history, lying deep within the police records under the commander's name that he finally found something of interest. It was a file on a man named Setsubou Hikari. There were only a few facts about him, such as when he lived (by Satoshi's guess, the man might've been his great-great uncle, or something close) and where he'd lived. Nothing much important until he came across a section entitled 'Achievements'. And written directly underneath, in clear print, was as much information that could be given.

'_Chaos Gem'_

_Creator: Hikari, Setsubou_

_Origin: Unknown_

_Abilities: Unknown_

_Current Location: The Museum of Remarkable Arts_

Satoshi raised his eyebrows. Was the museum unaware of its loss, or had they just not bothered to update this file? No matter, he knew exactly where the gem was. That wasn't what he needed to know, though. He scrolled down a bit further on the page, until he came across something else of interest.

'_Setsubou once kept a journal in which he wrote about everything he did and everything he experimented with. The current location is unknown, but there are a few speculations that the location of this journal might be in the very house he used to live in, which has long since been abandoned and labeled as a haunted house. Officers and detectives have been unable to get inside the building to confirm whether the journal is there or not. As Setsubou was a rather accomplished psychologist, his journal would most likely fetch a very high price among scholars.'_

It was written rather like a news report, Satoshi noticed, and he wondered if it had ever been published anywhere. But that was not the issue here, and he drew his mind back to what was important at the moment. He had to get that journal. It was the only way he'd find out anything about this situation. But how on earth was he going to manage that? He was on some island resort, with the only way off being the ship they came on, and he couldn't very well hijack that and take off with it.

And what was the bit about no one being able to get inside the building? Were the doors caved in or something? No, they should still be able to get through. Some sort of magic? Surely not…but then again, he dealt with magical sorts of objects nearly every day. What if Setsubou had found a way to block everyone but himself from entering the house? But why? Or better yet, how? …Blood perhaps. If that was the case, then Satoshi would be able to enter as well. But if it wasn't, then he had no idea what to do. With a great sigh, Satoshi pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, and started looking up the location of this supposedly haunted house.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Daisuke woke up again, he was definitely _not_ in the room with Satoshi. In fact, he was finding it increasingly difficult figure out where he was at all. His hand had a lingering tingle prickling at his fingers, not unlike that after the limb falls asleep, and his head was beginning to hurt from staring too hard at his shifting surroundings in his attempt to figure out where he might be. "What just happened…?" he muttered.

He hadn't expected any sort of response, but then a soft voice said behind him, "You have come, little one"

Daisuke's head snapped up. He knew that voice. He looked around until he found a figure walking out from a grove of trees to his back. A young looking woman with long red hair and smiling hazel eyes knelt before him.

He shook his head of the slight shock, and replied, "Well, you didn't give me much of a choice did you? Terrible timing, by they way…" he grumbled, crossing his arms in a pout.

The woman smiled softly. "I'm sorry, little one, but I had to use that time to bring you here. The turmoil of emotions you felt at that moment made the passage between that world and this easier to traverse. I am sorry to have inconvenienced you so, but your presence is needed here." Her voice was soothing, and in Daisuke's mind she seemed like one of the elves you hear about in fantasy stories, which carry themselves with grace and posses infinite amounts of patience and kindness.

"Between that world and this one…just where am I? What exactly happened? And most importantly…_why_ am I needed here?" Daisuke wondered, hoping to finally get some answers as to what was happening with his own body. "Oh yeah, and what's with the wings?" he added as an afterthought, stretching red-feathered appendages behind him.

Hazel eyes twinkled in amusement. "I gave them to you." She answered simply, and Daisuke blinked.

"You? But…you can't just _give_ people wings! People aren't made to have wings!"

"Chaos can do many things, little one."Her tone was serious this time, and there was a pause as she allowed Daisuke to assess the full meaning of that statement.

"But…wait." Daisuke furrowed his brow, as his mind was overwhelmed with ideas, thoughts, and questions. So _many_ questions. "But…that prophecy thing. It said the red-winged angel. But you gave me the wings? So wouldn't that mean I'm not…--"

"Self fulfilling prophecy."She replied before he could finish. "The prophecy foretold it would happen, and so I made it happen_."_

"O…k, then." He replied, not entirely sure he was satisfied with the answer. "Why me?"

"Because of who you are." She made it sound as if it was the simplest and most obvious answer in the world.

"That didn't really answer my question." He replied testily. The longer he stayed in this strange place with no clue as to what was going on, the more nervous he was becoming.

The woman sat down cross-legged in the grass, picking up a flower that suddenly sprang from the ground beside her and twirled it through her fingers. "In a way…it's in your blood." She paused for a moment, and there was silence as Daisuke waited for a better explanation. After a while she asked suddenly, "Do you know who I am?"

Daisuke blinked at the unexpected question. "Umm…sorry but, am I supposed to?"

She sighed, and looked to the grass in front of her. _"_Well, maybe not _me_ specifically, as I am only a memory. It is no surprise you would not recognize me. There is a deep history written within this jewel. It may take me a while, but I suppose you would like me to tell you?" She asked, sounding as if she would tell him the story either way.

Slowly Daisuke nodded. Perhaps if he knew more about the gem, he could figure out how to solve the problem of whatever the hell was wrong with it…and him…and then get back to his life as it should be.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Satoshi was glad to find that the ancient Hikari's house wasn't as far from their current location as he had feared. Unfortunately he was going to have to call upon the help of the police for this. Well, not the usual police force involved with the capture of Dark; he only wanted a helicopter. But he was going to have to be discreet, which was rather unfortunate since helicopters are anything _but_ discreet. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, realizing he was going to have to deal with Daisuke's friends again in order to pull this off.

Shifting his gaze to the boy now resting beside him, Satoshi ran his fingers through the soft red hair, allowing himself to entertain for a moment a kiss that might have happened had it not been for that cursed jewel. A small smile graced his lips, and he bent over, placing a soft kiss on Daisuke's forehead before he slid off the bed and grabbed his phone. Daisuke mumbled something, his brow furrowing just slightly before his face relaxed again to its previous state. Satoshi raised an eyebrow, wondering what could possibly be happening in the young angel's mind.

With resolve set, Satoshi began dialing a number less used, one that would connect him to the lesser-known department that worked with both the police force and the military. As soon as the other line was picked up, he immediately stated in his most business and authoritative phone that he was in need of a helicopter for an emergency police investigation. He encountered little problems, as the Hiwatari name was well respected in the police force, and he only spent about ten minutes on the phone assuring them of his identity and his reasons for calling before being told he would be picked up on the far side of the island in an hour and a half. He gave the man on the other line a terse thanks and flipped the phone closed.

Now he just had to talk to the other three. He wondered for a moment if it was normal to prefer talking to a military official rather than to one's own peers. That was the thing that consistently amazed him about Daisuke, he mused as he left the room to find Saehara and the twins, was that the hyper redhead was the only person his age he ever had the desire to talk to.

It was just approaching evening time at the moment, but it was still early for the happy vacationers, and Satoshi passed many of his classmates in the hallways as they bustled this way and that to find their friends, or go check out the restaurants and stores close to their hotel. Finally he found Saehara's head among the crowd, and quickly made his way to the boy who was talking to some nameless students from some other homeroom. "Saehara!" he called as he approached.

The boy looked up in surprise. "Hiwatari? What's up?" he asked curiously, breaking off his current conversation.

"I need you to come with me." Satoshi stated simply, and began walking off, expecting the other boy to follow him.

After a quick apology to his friends, Takeshi quickly hurried off after Satoshi's fast disappearing form. When he caught up he gave the other boy a glare. "You know if you want me to follow you, you _could_ try to wait for me."

"No time." Satoshi muttered distractedly, looking for the Harada twins among the crowd of the lobby.

Takeshi muttered under his breath, and Satoshi was pretty sure he heard something along the lines of 'Why Daisuke would want to be friends with _him_.' And then said aloud, "Why so rushed? Then his brain finally seemed to start working. "Wait, is this about Daisuke?"

Satoshi resisted the urge to roll his eyes and say 'why else would I be talking to you?' and replied instead with a simple, "Yes."

He exited the front doors of the hotel after no sign of the twins in the lobby, being quite sure they wouldn't have retired to their rooms just yet, and walked towards the beach. He found them sitting on some lawn chairs in the sand talking to a bunch of other girls. How predictable. He walked purposely towards them, while Takeshi indirectly flirted with a few of the girls from behind him. "Harada-san" When both girls looked up, he motioned with his head back towards the hotel. "Come with me." And leaving no room for argument, he left them in much the same manner he had Takeshi.

All the girls looked towards the black haired boy with confused expressions, and he shrugged. "I dunno, he seems to be in an extra bad mood today." And he made sure the twins had gotten up to follow before walking off after Satoshi.

It was a very quiet trip up to Satoshi and Daisuke's room, as no one wanted to do anything to provoke the wrath of a tensed Satoshi. When they finally had entered the room, Satoshi locked the door behind him, and said reluctantly but quickly, "I need your help."

There was a soft gasp as Risa saw Daisuke lying on the bed, red-feathered wings spread beside him, which brought the rest of the room's attention to the unconscious boy. "And that's the reason." Satoshi supplied.

"What did you do to him?" Riku asked just a bit too accusingly.

He glared back at her. "I have done nothing, Harada-san."

"Will he be okay?" Takeshi asked, walking slowly around the bed.

"He will be fine, as soon as I find this journal." He didn't give anyone a chance to reply or ask about the journal before he continued on. "I need you three to watch over him. You don't really have to do anything, just stay and make sure nothing happens. You can take turns or whatever, I just need someone to be here with him. I will leave you all my phone number, and if anything happens you can call—"

"Wait a minute, where are you going?" Risa asked, narrowing her eyes.

"That information is not to be disclosed at this time." He answered harshly, automatically reverting to 'police-mode' in the face of answering unwanted questions. "All I will tell you as that I am leaving the island and I need you guys to cover for me. If the teacher or anyone asks about where I am, just say that I have gotten a terrible headache for the moment and am asleep. I should only be gone for a few hours."

There was a rather heavy pause as Satoshi's words processed in the other three's minds, and then Riku said, "What's happened to him?" looking towards the boy lying so peacefully in the bed.

Satoshi sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed, and absently ran his fingers over the soft feathers splayed about him in an unusual gesture of care. "I'm not entirely sure myself. We- he only mentioned something about being called by someone before collapsing. And that's why I have to go right now, I've got a helicopter to take me to find something that should have some very useful information."

"Wait, a helicopter?!" Takeshi exclaimed, sounding to Satoshi like he was more interested in that than in his friend's well being.

"Yes."

"How did you get a helicopter to pick you up out here?" he asked, sounding a little jealous he wouldn't be going as well.

"I simply told them it was official police business."

"Well couldn't you tell that to the teachers too?" Risa asked softly.

Satoshi tilted his head to the side for a moment in thought, and said, "No. In a school field trip, teachers assume full responsibility for the welfare of the students, and anything that could be a possible liability out of their control is not allowed. By letting me leave the island on a helicopter, they would be taking too great a risk with my safety, even if I do more than that all the time." He sighed, and brushed a few strands of hair from Daisuke's face (a gesture not unnoticed by the three friends) before standing and grabbing a notebook and pen from the drawer near his bed. "Look, I won't be too long, just watch him for now, okay?" He scribbled something on the pad, and ripped off the paper and put it on the bedside table. "This is my number. Call if anything happens, and if Daisuke happens to wake up, just tell him to look for 'Hikari, Setsubou' on my computer."

After making sure there were no more questions, Satoshi nodded to his classmates and left his room, sneaking out the back of the hotel, and being extra careful so that no one saw him.

- - -- - - - - - - - -

About forty-five minutes later, a helicopter landed in front of him on the far side of the island at the allotted time. He nodded to the pilot, and gave him the location of where he wished to be taken.

He spent most of the half hour trip staring out the window, watching as the sea turned into land; mostly trees were visible, until they came across a very large field with a very large, and very neglected look house situated in the middle. It was here the helicopter landed, about a hundred feet from the house, and dropped him off, after affirming the time to pick Satoshi up again in four hours.

Satoshi hoped it wouldn't take that long, and at the same time hoped he had given himself enough time.

It really did look haunted, he mused as he stepped up to the house that looked like it just might collapse if he poked it. He could almost see the storm clouds and lightning behind it like those cliché horror movies, despite the fact that the sun was shining.

Shaking his head and smiling slightly at the images, he walked up to the doorway, wondering what it is that had been keeping all prior visitors out of the house. He pressed his hand to the door, and could practically feel the magic flowing through it, and the hairs on his arm stood on end. He quickly backed away, and rubbed his arms against the chill that suddenly washed over him.

He eyed the house with a scrutinizing gaze. The magic residue was there, but it hadn't really pushed him away…it was more of a warning than anything. He tried the door handle, and was surprised when it turned, but the door didn't budge. It wasn't actually locked, but something kept the door closed, and he knew instinctively that it wasn't because anything had it barred from the other side. "Okay…what do I need to do to open you." He muttered to the door, running his hands along it, searching for any break in the magic, or secret switch or anything of use. The longer he was in contact with it, the more this energy actually felt alive, and he started to wonder if the house really was haunted in a sense.

Leaving the door for now, he decided to try the windows he could reach, and found every one of them to be locked, and amazingly unbreakable. This was one remarkable house. He moved back to the doorway, and searched around that area, looking for something to open the door. "Come on…I need that journal." As soon as he finished the sentence, he felt the magic swirl around him, and he gasped as it momentarily took his breath. "My intentions are not ill-meant!" he cried in hopes to appease whatever spirit he had just angered. "I need it to save Daisuke!"

To his surprise, the swirl of energy around him actually lessened, and became gentle, searching, and he allowed it to examine him. He was sure he felt it search through his mind, and he found himself seriously wondering what this magic was, and what it wanted.

He closed his eyes, concentrating his thoughts on the boy currently lost in some other world, as that had been what got the most reaction from this mysterious force, and he nearly jumped when he heard a click, like the sound of a lock releasing, from the door.

Sapphire blue eyes opened in surprise, and he stared as the door creaked open. Looked like he wouldn't have to worry about the blood after all. But what exactly had it been that caused the door to open? Did you have to come with the intent to save someone, or was it because of Daisuke? He quickly shook his head, and decided to worry about it later. The door was open now, and he needed to find that journal.

Cautiously he stepped over the threshold of the doorway, looking around at the dilapidated building that called itself a house. It was a large house, but not quite a mansion, though the style looked to be an imitation of one. There was a large sweeping staircase to the right, with steps missing here and there, which led to the only other floor of the house. A dusty chandelier hung in from the vaulted ceiling, and there was a hallway branching off to the left that looked as if it led to quite a few other rooms. Satoshi's shoulders slumped as he realized it may take a while to actually find this journal. He decided to start looking on the first floor, as it looked safer than climbing the disintegrating staircase.

- -- - - - - - - - - -

"Did anyone else notice the way Hiwatari was looking at Daisuke?" Risa asked a tensely silent room.

Riku only glared at the mattress, while Takeshi tapped his chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, he did seem very…_affectionate_ with our little Daisuke, didn't he?"

Riku sniffed haughtily. "Please, Hiwatari couldn't be affectionate to a dying puppy." The other two gave her strange looks for that. "What?"

Takeshi laughed shortly. "Just trying to imagine Hiwatari with a puppy."

Risa shook her head. "I don't know, but why don't we not think about their personal lives right now? I think we should do what Hiwatari said, and take turns staying with Daisuke. We just sort of left our friends with no explanation…I'd rather get back to keep any strange rumors from starting, no offense."

The other two nodded in agreement. "So who's got first shift then?" Takeshi asked.

"I'll stay." Riku answered.

Risa looked at her sister just a little bit sadly. "Are you sure?" The only response she got was a determined nod, so she nodded in return and stood up, smoothing out her skirt. "All right then. Come on Takeshi. We'll come back in about an hour, okay?" She directed the question at Riku, who nodded once more, and waved at them as they left.

Riku waited for a couple of minutes, making sure the other two weren't going to come back, before she got up and grabbed Satoshi's laptop off the side table, furtively glancing at the door every once in a while as she settled herself on the bed beside Daisuke.

- - - - - - - - -

Daisuke blinked, and stared in silence for quite a while after the woman, who had mentioned her name as Heion, finished her story. "So…this place was created by vengeance?"

"That is the most prominent emotion involved in chaos, along with confusion. But this place, the Chaos Realm, was not necessarily created by it, but discovered by it. The gem now in your hand was created by it, which created a connection unintended by the creator. The loss of his true love drove him to near insanity, and in his desire to have her, I was created."

"And you were this lover?"

"In a sense, yes. I am fashioned after her, however unintentional this was. The Chaos Gem was originally crafted to be a gift to her, but when they were forbid to marry, his anger seeped into the stone, and awakened the magic that gives it its current name. However, few people know of the true power held in this gem."

"This power…I keep hearing about it, but no one has been able to tell me what it is."

A gentle smile graced Heion's lips. "Yes, none who have not seen its power for themselves would not be able to tell you. Look around you, Daisuke, and tell me what you see."

Daisuke furrowed his brow, wondering at the validity of such an action at the moment, before turning his head to truly take in his surroundings. The shifting shapes, buildings, and colors…and the people. He did a double take on the last one, and stared closely at the passing people that took no notice of the strange happenings around them. "The people…" he whispered, turning back into her knowing gaze. "What's wrong with them?"

"They have allowed the chaos into their minds. The Chaos Realm –the place you now sit- has been around since the beginning of time. If people allow their minds to become weak, they are taken by its anger, as the Chaos always looks to feed its vengeful spirit."

Daisuke's eyes were wide with fascination and trepidation all at once. "But they all look sort of…well…insane."

Again she smiled. "Yes."

Realization dawned suddenly, and Daisuke looked around him again in amazement. He took a moment think about that, before he said, "But why…what is my purpose here? Why are you telling me all of this?"

Heion picked up Daisuke's hands and held them gently in her own, and he could feel energy flow about them. "The gem has passed through too many human hands lately. It grows restless as it becomes tainted with these people's thoughts. The gem's creator's spirit, which rests inside the gem, has awakened, and his anger flows through it once again. Normally I keep him at bay; I am the yin to his yang, but it seems one man who took hold of the gem was particularly focused on thoughts of greed and corruption, and this was able to overpower my own energy."

She stood up, and pulled Daisuke to stand as well before releasing his hands to tuck her hair behind her ears. "When he heard of the Hikari and Niwa spirits awakening again, he used the Chaos' influence upon the human mind to put the gem in a position that would draw these spirits to it. With their power, it will be possible for the Chaos to expand beyond its limited horizons, and take hold of your world as well. We cannot allow this to happen."

Daisuke's head was spinning with so much being thrown at him at once. "But…but what can I possibly do?"

A hand was placed on his head in a comforting gesture. "Everything, little one. You are born of my blood, and thus have a power within the gem's confines that others do not. You can free them, and calm the spirit of Chaos. Do not worry; I will not make you do this alone. Don't fret over this, you will know what to do when the time comes."

Daisuke swallowed nervously, and nodded once, not feeling near as confident as she seemed to think he should be.

"Now come with me, I must show you." And so he walked beside her as she led the way across the field in a seemingly random direction.

- - - - - - - - -

It wasn't in the bedrooms (all three of them in that hallway), the bathrooms (not that he had expected to find it there), or the study. And that was all of the rooms downstairs. With a groan, Satoshi realized he was going to have to climb the stairs. He walked back into the entryway, and glanced apprehensively at the staircase. "Come on, can't you at least give me a hint?" he called out to the empty house.

Not expecting a reaction, he actually jumped in surprise when he got one. A light breeze drifted through the parlor, and a very faint image of a person appeared in the midst of the wind. Satoshi felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. As used to seeing strange things as he was, ghosts would always creep him out.

The translucent figure of a man seemed to stare at him for a moment, before turning around and walking down the hallway he had just been. Pausing for a moment, and trying to get rid of the goose bumps spread over his skin, Satoshi turned and followed the apparition into a bedroom he had already looked through. Raising his eyebrows, he stood and watched as the ghost looked to be pulling something out of a drawer…and he gasped as he realized it was a ghostly version of the journal he was looking for. The man set it down onto the desk, and began scribbling madly onto it.

Furrowing his brow, Satoshi tried to figure out what the point of this was. He had asked for help…not to be given pointless images. Then the man stilled for a moment, and stood up brusquely and walked out of the room with the journal, completely ignoring his presence, and Satoshi's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. This was a past event. The house was playing back a memory! Suddenly realizing the importance of what was happening, Satoshi hurried to follow the man as he disappeared through a door that he could swear had not been there before.

As he opened it and closed it behind him again, the doorway disappeared, and Satoshi fought to keep from panicking. This was a secret room then. He took a moment to marvel at the level of magic in this house, and turned again to follow the memory down a flight of stairs, sincerely hoping it would show him a way back out of this room.

Thoughts of escape were quickly pushed to the back of his mind, though, when the room and its contents came into view by the eerie light emitted by the ghost, and the small amount let in by a very dusty window situated near the ceiling. He realized they must be underground now, as he could just make out the base of a tree through the yellowed glass. The contents in the room quickly drew his attention though. There were so many pieces of artwork in here, some completed, and some just barely started. He was momentarily stunned at the realization of so many lost Hikari artworks. He walked to a nearby painting and reverently ran his hand over the frame, feeling a rush of emotions run through him. The woman in the painting was beautiful, with long red hair and hazel eyes, and he felt there was a story behind the gentle smile of the woman sitting among a field of flowers seemingly without a care in the world.

His attention was quickly drawn away by a movement caught by his peripheral vision, and Satoshi turned swiftly to watch the ghost as it quickly unlocked a drawer in a desk shoved into a corner, and all but threw the journal into it. Satoshi's eyes narrowed slightly in concentration. It was hard to tell when it made no sound, and was not even solid, but the image seemed suddenly rushed, and his eyes looked the slightest bit panicked.

Satoshi jumped the same time the ghost did as he heard what sounded like an echo of pounding feet back towards the staircase. Distant shouts of indistinguishable words echoed through the corridors, and he turned back to see the man piling up ghost objects in order to reach the window. He watched in silent wonderment as the ghost climbed atop the tower of teetering objects, and wrenched open the window, tossing out a small, round object before jumping back down and hiding in a corner.

It was with a start that he realized the Hikari was still there after the memory faded. He clutched his hand to his mouth to prevent the scream that nearly left his throat. Suddenly feeling slightly sick to his stomach, he wrenched his gaze away from the darkened corner, and turned to the desk the journal had been locked into. It was no work at all to pick the lock, and he pulled open the drawer, reaching in and grabbing the journal with trembling hands.

Not wanting to stay in this room any longer than he had to, Satoshi walked back up to the still solid wall, and pounded on it with his free fist. "Open up!" he shouted to it, but to no avail. Sighing heavily, he headed back into the room, and looked up to the window. It looked like that was to be his only way out. Carefully he tucked the journal into the waist of his jeans –as he had no other place to put it- and began to carefully climb the pile of furniture that was still situated underneath the window. It took several tugs to wrench it open, one of which nearly sent him tumbling back to the floor. But once it was open, Satoshi crawled quickly through, thanking anyone that would listen for his small frame; if he had been any bigger he probably wouldn't have fit.

Once outside he heaved a great sigh of relief; he had never appreciated the sun so much. Glancing down at his watch, he realized he had been in that house for three whole hours, and still had one left before he was to be picked up. So taking advantage of the time, Satoshi pulled the journal from its temporary holding spot, and went to sit down from a tree far away from the house; he still had shivers running down his spine.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Riku sighed in frustration as she glared at the computer before her. She was currently staring at a black screen with a large smiley face in the middle sticking its tongue out at her. Written underneath in bold letters was 'Attempted Failure Number 16! Try Again!' Hiwatari had a twisted sense of humor, she mused as she tried and failed to gain access to his computer. He had made it sound easy when he told them to tell Daisuke to look up information on it. Did Daisuke know the password? With a huff she decided to quit and set the computer on the table again, deciding to glare instead at the boy lying beside her.

As she studied his face, she allowed herself to muse over how crazy things had been since this vacation had started. No, before that even. Since that night at the museum. Things were great before then, and she was sure her and Daisuke would end up together. And then that stupid Hiwatari entered the scene, all high and mighty, showing off the fact that he knew more than they did. She was sure he did something to Daisuke. How else could she explain the way he turned her down?

In a moment of spite towards, well, everything, she lay down beside Daisuke and rested her head on his chest, listening to the slow heartbeat. She sighed, knowing that it would never happen now. For some reason she couldn't figure out, he had fallen for Hiwatari. She didn't even know he was gay, and was pretty sure Daisuke hadn't either. But she had seen the look in his eyes, and knew what it meant. It had been there for her once. And Riku was quite certain she was the only one who knew of this development, though the others seemed to be starting to pick up on it. She glanced over at the clock on the second bedside table, and noticed she still had about half an hour, so she let her eyes close and drifted off to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"What is that place?" Daisuke asked as the came to a stop on top of a large hill, looking down over what looked to be some sort of castle.

"He likes to call it his fortress, or lair. Seems to think it makes him sound important." Heion answered.

Daisuke was surprised into laughter, as that was the closest to a joke he'd heard the woman speak, before he became serious again. "So…they're in there? Dark and Krad, I mean." He asked, bouncing slightly on his toes.

"They are." She answered, staring contemplatively over the land.

"Well then what are we waiting for?! Let's go get them!" Daisuke cried, spreading his wings and crouching down, preparing to make use of these new wings.

"Wait!" Heion said urgently, and grabbed hold of his wrist. "You mustn't haste so. The walls of the castle have been heavily warded. We must approach with caution.

Daisuke sighed, folding the wings back behind him. "Another trip to a museum then…" he muttered, to which Heion smiled.

"I have found a small hole in these wards he did not think of. There is an underground passage that leads to the dungeons he is unaware of. The entrance is at the fountain in the back. You can use this to enter the building undetected." She explained, pointing to a grand fountain placed in a beautiful garden in the back of the castle.

Daisuke blinked for a moment. "Okay three questions. One, why can't you do this? Two, why doesn't he know about the passage? And three, why the fountain and how do I open it?"

Heion laughed softly, resting her hand on Daisuke's shoulder. "I cannot enter the castle because Setsubou would be aware of my presence. He knows of my energy's signature. You are unfamiliar. He does not know of it because I created this passage long ago; call it precaution. And you simply open it by placing your hand upon it and speaking your name. It will recognize you."

Daisuke sighed, and his gaze moved to the castle once more. "So I just grab Dark and Krad and get out?"

"Yes, with their powers in his hands, the balance is upset. If he had only the dark one, and I had the light it would be different, but as I cannot take their powers as he can, they must be banished from this world entirely."

Daisuke nodded. "Well…nothing to it then, right?"

She smiled once more at him. "You're a brave boy, little one. Now go, and be cautious!"

"Right, just leave it to me." he replied, and spread his wings again, taking off to fly to the back of the castle, trying to stay out of view of the windows. He reached the fountain with little problem, and set his hand upon the cold stone, whispering his name as Heion had instructed. There was a low rumble as the fountain parted, revealing a stairway of the same stone leading down into darkness. He gulped, and carefully stepped onto the stairs, wondering for the millionth time how this whole thing had happened. He almost felt as if he were in some sort of strange dream.

After what seemed like forever, the stairs opened up into a large, dimly lit hallway. He noticed that the building seemed entirely normal. All colors and shapes were as they are supposed to be, and he realized it must have something to do with those wards Heion spoke of. They somehow kept this building normal…connected it with the real world.

As Daisuke passed caged cells, lavish doors, darkened rooms and brightly lit nooks, he realized this was the most disorganized dungeon he'd ever seen or heard of. The general physical traits may be normal, but the structure was messed up. He wondered how he was supposed to find Dark, and wished that Heion had given him more instructions. He didn't have long to worry about it, however, when he heard voices from a short distance away. He ducked into one of the darker rooms, and strained his ears. His eyes widened as he realized he recognized those voices, arguing as usual.

Daisuke grinned and threw all caution to the wind for the moment as he stepped out of his current hiding spot, and walked towards the voices. When he discovered the source, he looked around him quickly, before opening the door, and darting inside.

The two occupants of the room quickly stopped their bickering, and looked up at hearing the door open, and for a moment they stared at Daisuke, and Daisuke stared back.

Quickly recovering from his shock, Daisuke grinned. "Dark!" he yelled, and launched himself at the equally as surprised thief. Dark let out a muffled 'oof' as he was tackled, but smiled back as Daisuke settled easily into his lap and wrapped small arms around his chest, wondering in the back of his mind that this was the first time he'd ever physically seen and touched his other half.

Dark rested his cheek briefly on Daisuke's head, as it was the most hug he could give at the moment, and said, "Daisuke, boy am I ever glad to see you. And look, you got yourself a pair of wings, too."

Daisuke smiled and flexed the feathered appendages. "Yeah, cool huh?" His attention was drawn away from them when Krad cleared his throat from the side. The boy immediately tensed, and Dark felt the arms tighten around him.

"Hey, don't worry kiddo, Krad isn't gonna attack you." Dark reassured the boy, then he chuckled and said, "Hell, he can't even reach _me_ at the moment."

Krad's lip curled into a snarl at Dark's comment, which had made Daisuke aware of the chains. "Oh, I have to get you guys out of here!" he exclaimed, and Krad looked momentarily surprised.

"You?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. "Great, that's all we need right now…where's Satoshi-sama?"

Daisuke blushed the slightest bit, and looked down. "I don't know…but he isn't here, not in this world. Knowing him, though, he's probably looking for some solution on the outside."

Krad sighed. "Lovely."

Daisuke narrowed his eyes. "Hey, I could just leave you here you know. I bet Satoshi wouldn't miss you."

The glare Krad sent him was like being hit with a glacier. "Hold your tongue, brat."

Daisuke squeaked, and ducked to hide behind Dark, who sighed. "Krad, leave it, and Daisuke, don't provoke him. I believe our main objective right now is to get out of here."

Krad huffed, and turned his head to glare into some corner of the room, and Daisuke nodded slowly.

Daisuke's mind started working out how he was going to get the two out of here, and Heion's words from earlier came back to him. '_You are born of my blood, and thus have a power within the gem's confines that others do not'_, but just how far did that power extend? He decided to test its limits, and took the short chain holding Dark's left arm in his hand and tugged. He practically glared at the linked metal, willing it to break, melt, disintegrate, or whatever else might get rid of it.

Krad was about to make a comment that glaring at the chain would not break it, when a flash of light burst form Daisuke's hand, and the links snapped apart and the whole chain was destroyed. He quickly shut his mouth.

Suddenly there was a loud wailing sound, and Daisuke covered his ears in surprise as the other two looked around. Suddenly Krad yelled "It's an alarm! What did you do?!" he threw the question at Daisuke, who scowled back.

"I didn't do any—" but he stopped as he realized it must have been the magic he just used that set it off. He wondered what the push against him had been as he was concentrating…it must have been the warning of the wards. "Shit, we have to get out of here!" He quickly moved to Dark's other side, and was able to release this chain just a bit quicker.

Dark gratefully stood up, and Daisuke moved to release Krad's bindings. He was thankful that Krad said nothing as he rid him of the chains, and the three moved to the doorway. Daisuke squeezed in between the two taller boys, and looked up and down the hallway before darting out into it. "Come on, I know a way out!" he said urgently, and the other two were quick to follow.

There were just rounding the first corner, when there was a sound of fingers snapping once behind them, and dead silence fell upon the castle, made all the more intense by the sharp contrast of noise level. It was enough to freeze them all in place.

"And _where_ may I ask do you three think you are going?"

They all turned around to see Dark and Krad's captor standing before them in all his regal glory.

"Not good…" Dark muttered, and moved closer to Krad in an attempt to shield Daisuke. The two spirits shifted into a defensive position, ready to fight if they had to.

- - - - - - - - -

_May 8th_

_I've met the most amazing woman just three weeks ago. If I've never believed in love at first sight, I most certainly do now. Heion Niwa, a woman who puts every beauty surrounding her to shame. We met at the park, where I was doing some extra research on the human psyche. She did not laugh as I expected her to. In fact she seemed interested, so I explained to her my research._

_For years now I have tried to understand and analyze the workings of the mind, and yielded discouragingly little result. I have taken to studying the mentally ill the most, and what it is that makes them so. _

_I believe I may be on the verge of a fantastic breakthrough as I've picked up a study of one simple term; Chaos. This seems to be the presiding element in my patients' minds, so much that it seems almost tangible. I've set up a few experiments to test some theories of mine._

_May 21__st_

_I have begun courting Heion. She is the most delightful of women, who easily contents herself to sit and read while I go about my 'inane' as some call it, research. I believe I will make her something. I know my family line is well known for its art, and I suppose it is time I lived up to this reputation. _

_I will carve a gem for her of a sparkling midnight stone. She is very fond of the night sky in starry splendor. _

_May 24__th_

_The strangest of things occurred yesterday during one of my experiments. You see, I have happened across the most amazing of devices; if you attach wires to it and a person, you can get a certain reading of a person's brain activity. _

_I have been using this on five different people, and during my sessions with one of them, the machine lashed out at me, I'm sure of it! This was one of my less-sane patients, and as I broached a subject that was apparently sensitive to them, the readings of the device went off the chart, and a small part of the machinery detached and flew straight towards me! _

_I think there is more to this chaos than the simple idea of it. As I submerse myself more and more into it, I feel it more as a presence than a concept. _

_June 15__th_

_People are beginning to disapprove of my studies. Even sweet Heion seemed apprehensive of my study of 'something as unstable and predictable as the very idea of chaos' to put it in her words. But I steadily become more fascinated, and I find myself constantly wondering why this has never been approached before. _

_I have found the stone I wish to use for my gift to Heion. It was hard to come by, but I found a beautiful specimen of a rich black rock deep in a cave off the cliff near the shores. I have also begun a painting of her. It seems she brings out the best of my artistic side. _

_June 16__th_

_I had a dream last night…it was different from my usual dreams. The land was strange, and never seemed to stand still. It gives you a headache just looking at it! There were people there that wore the same expressions as many of my own patients. They all looked at me as I passed, their expressions giving me chills. When I woke up, I felt as if the dream had been of a great significance. I must find out why._

_July 2__nd_

_The Niwas have forbidden their daughter to see me. They pulled me aside earlier, and spoke to me, saying they did not want me around Heion anymore. The told me I was a bad influence, and I do believe they were insinuating that I am as crazy as any one of my patients! _

_I believe they cannot understand the finer points of innovative research. I will not be deterred, however, for I have fallen in love with the beautiful Heion, and do not intend to give her up so easily. _

_July 11__th_

_The nerve! My very place of work has tossed me out. I begin to make some promising advances, and they forbid me to enter the grounds anymore because I 'have overstepped my bounds within the limits of humane study of the human mind and behavior'. They disprove of my methods, but I think hypnotism is a perfectly acceptable practice. To use it to have a mentally unstable person enter into their own mind is, I think, in no way discreditable._

_No matter, I might get more done on my own; I believe they were hindering my work anyway. But I did find out something before they kicked me out. When I was using this hypnotism on one of my patients, they described a world to me that sounded very much like the one I saw in my dream. I may just be getting somewhere yet. _

_July 18__th_

_Heion herself has refused me. I offered her the gem I worked so hard on, and molded into a beautiful stone, but she simply refused, and said 'I do not know you anymore'._

_I did not know heartache was so painful. Have I become so lost in my own studies? No, I do no more than any other respectable scientist. So why then has everyone forsaken me? They have no grounds to base their ridiculous accusations. _

_They will come to regret that. I will make the most amazing discovery in history, and they will all line up at my feet to apologize! I am so close to understanding, I can feel it in my bones. _

_July 30__th_

_I cannot rid these thoughts of Heion from my mind. Every waking moment I think of her, and yet she has not spoken to me since that day I offered her my gift. I have finished my painting of her, and I find myself sitting in front of it for hours. In my attempts to forget about her, I immerse myself in my studies, and I come closer and closer to understanding this chaos each day._

_I oft find myself simmering with anger towards Heion's parents, for I am sure they are the ones to have put such negative images of me into her mind. _

_The gem has a red stripe across it…I am sure I did not put it there. It looks nice though; a wound to mar the perfect flesh of the gem. _

_August 13__th_

_Something is not right. The anger, the fear, it is everywhere. In a moment of hindsight clarity, I think I may have gone too far. This is not what I meant to happen. I am accused of treason against mankind as a whole. I fear this may be the last thing I write, as I know they are coming for me now._

_The gem has been covered in several red stripes now, each as sinister looking as the first, and I dread to know what I may have created. I feel its energies pulsing through me, and it grows warm in my hand. I feel it even in my home. When did the chaos take over me? When did I become the subject? _

_I will throw the gem from my home, as I cannot take it myself. It must find its way to Heion. She was always so calm, surely she could purify this wretched thing I have created. I only pray it does not fall into the wrong hands._

_- - - -_

Satoshi snapped the journal shut with one hand, staring wide-eyed into the distance. Heion Niwa. So there had been love between their families before…he only hoped that Daisuke and himself wouldn't be so cursed.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Satoshi rubbed his temples. This gem was more dangerous than he thought. In Setsubou's decline, he had created a gateway into another world entirely, and he cursed his ancestry for creating something that put his only friend into such danger now.

But now at least he understood the house. The magic from the Chaos, mixed with Setsubou's emotions had festered there for years, never leaving as Setsubou's body had never left. It took on a personality of its own, waiting for the day someone came to release it. Much of it he could feel in this journal. If he closed his eyes, he could almost picture Setsubou as he sat down to write.

Satoshi sighed, resting his head back against the tree. At least he had a better understanding of what this thing was now. But he also realized he couldn't directly help Daisuke. With the Hikari blood running through his veins, he would probably only make things worse.

The gem had chosen Daisuke because Setsubou had wished it so when he deigned Heion to be its savior. This left him with a feeling of helplessness he didn't like one bit.

Finally after another ten minutes, he heard the spinning blades, and felt the breeze that announced the helicopter's arrival. He stood from his spot and boarded the aircraft, not saying a word the entire trip back. He was far too worried about Daisuke to speak.

- - - - - - - - - - -

::Takes deep breath:: Wow, 20 pages. All I have to say is… o.o And 15 of them I wrote just today.

And sorry for all those journal entries guys…(3 full pages of them::faints::) but it was sort of necessary. And at least I left myself more open for the next chapter.

Speaking of the next chapter, I'm going back home after next Friday, since exams will be over, and the internet is currently not available at the house (DSL modem doesn't have internet for some reason) so yeah. Hopefully it won't be too long though. (And if it is, I can always go to the Starbuck's near the house to upload a chapter!)

And thank you guys for your unending support. (K, I think you were one of my biggest motivators o.o. I wanted to reply to you several times to tell you I was working on it…but I can't on an unsigned review T-T) So anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and tell me if you find any terrible mistakes or holes, because this is the first one I haven't reviewed myself a million times over since I wanted to get it posted as soon as I finished.

Much love! -Miko


	9. Escape to Reality

And now chapter nine! Usual disclaimer applies.

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**Chapter 9: Escape to Reality**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Surely you don't think it would be that simple to escape, do you?" the man said with raised eyebrows as he stared down the three attempting to furtively make their way through the halls.

Daisuke furrowed his brow at Dark's back, as it was the only thing in his vision since the thief stepped in front of him. That voice was familiar…it was the same one he and Satoshi heard when that strange prophecy was told to them. Gripping his fingers into the back of Dark's shirt, he poked his head around the elder boy's side and peeked under his arm.

"Hikari Setsubou…" he whispered, realizing this was the man Heion had been talking about, and immediately all eyes snapped to him. He looked nervously at them all, and finally settled his gaze warily on Setsubou.

"Did you say Hikari?" Krad asked with no small amount of surprise, glancing between Daisuke and the person now identified as a distant kin to him, a few times removed.

"You don't know him?" Daisuke returned, and the three momentarily ignored the Hikari in front of them.

"Am I supposed to?" Krad asked with only a hint of real question behind the sarcasm.

"I don't think Setsubou was part of Krad's tyrannical reign over the Hikari family." Dark added helpfully, to which he received a glare from Krad.

"But he knew who _we _were." Krad countered, and Daisuke turned back and forth between the two.

Setsubou sighed with annoyance, and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "Why on earth the power I need was placed within you imbeciles I will never understand."

Dark whirled around defensively, causing Daisuke to lose his grip on his shirt. "Hey! I am no—"

"Dark! Now is not the time to be getting involved in arguments. I'd like to get back before Satoshi has a reason to worry if you don't mind!"

Dark raised an eyebrow at the young tamer, and Krad's gaze snapped to him. "What business do you have with Satoshi-sama, Niwa?"

"Niwa?"

The three turned to the surprised, and slightly angry sounding question. "_You_ are a Niwa?"

"Erm, yes?" he answered, shifting so that he was half-hidden by the two taller boys again. "Why?"

Daisuke would swear later he heard the man growl in that moment. "She's sent you, hasn't she?" He whirled around, the garments flowing about him as if in a wind. "Damnable woman!"

Dark and Krad exchanged a very confused glance, and then turned towards Daisuke, who looked suddenly angry.

"She told me everything, you know." The young angel said softly, stepping forward with sudden courage.

Setsubou turned his head back towards them with an eyebrow raised. "Did she now? Then you should know I have no desire to associate with you or her, and that your wretched family line should simply stay out of my business and affairs."

"How can you say that?" Daisuke argued, stepping forward and spreading his arms. "You love her!"

"Loved! Stay your tongue, boy, you have no business with me."

"I've had business with you since you took Dark from me! Or even before that, when you made the _Niwas_ the 'saviors' of this gem!"

"I have made no such decision. All that woman does is hinder me, keeps me from obtaining the true power I deserve!" A magical energy started to swirl through the air, tossing about hair and cloth, and ruffling feathers. "It was that weaker part of me which allowed her presence here, and now that I have the powers of these spirits, I intend to rectify that mistake!"

There was a yelp of surprise from behind him, and Daisuke turned around swiftly to see that there were vines bursting through the stone floor, wrapping quickly around Dark and Krad's ankles and working their way up.

"Dark!" Daisuke shouted, and attempted to lunge forward to try and pull Dark away from the vines (and maybe Krad too).

"Oh no you don't." Daisuke heard from behind him just before there was a great tug on one of his wings. He winced in pain, and turned back towards Setsubou, his current captor.

"What are you doing?" he yelled, struggling to break away from the death grip on his wing.

"Keeping you from interfering further!" Setsubou snarled, tightening his grip and twisting his hand so hard there was a distinct 'snap' as the tender bone broke.

Daisuke shouted and dropped to his knees as the break sent a shockwave of pain shooting through his shoulder blades, and spread to the rest of his body. He looked up through eyes blurred by tears of pain, and saw that Dark and Krad were wrapped completely by the vines, which continued to grow upwards and through the ceiling.

Suddenly there was a hand gripping the back of his neck, and pushing down so that his forehead met harshly with the floor. He grunted at the forced impact, and closed his eyes tight. Only one word ran through his mind. '_Satoshi…_' What had he gotten himself into; and more importantly, how was he going to get out of it?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

It was dark now, Satoshi mused as he again stared out the window on the way back to the resort. Of course it should be, as it was approaching evening time when he started searching the house, and that was before he'd spent several hours away from the windows.

He found an anxiety growing in his chest the closer and closer he came to rejoining his classmates. Something was wrong. He wasn't sure how, or why he knew, but he could feel it in his gut and he didn't like this feeling one bit. "Can't this thing go any faster?" he finally snapped halfway through the trip.

The pilot gave him a weird look. "Sorry Mr. Hiwatari, but you _are_ only in a helicopter. If you wanted faster, I might suggest a jet."

Satoshi sent the pilot a scathing glare, but said nothing more as he turned towards the window again. The feeling had settled in his chest, and sat like an annoying itch that just couldn't be gotten rid of. The last fifteen minutes of the trip felt like an eternity, and when they finally landed Satoshi barely gave a backwards glance at the pilot, yelling over his shoulder that he would send a check in payment later.

Making sure the journal was tucked safely under his arm and in no danger of being dropped, Satoshi took off at a run for the hotel visible in the distance. There were noticeably less people milling about outside once he got close enough, and he assumed the parties had been moved inside where lighting was better. Personally he preferred the darkness of nighttime, but that was unimportant at the moment and he focused his attentions on pushing through the crowds congregated in the hotel lobby.

There were several shouts of protest and annoyance as Satoshi forcibly pushed his way through, but luckily no one actually attempted to stop him. He bypassed the people waiting for the elevator –which was unfortunately sitting on the floor he needed- and leapt up the stairs two at a time. When he arrived at his door, he quickly unlocked it, and nearly slammed it against the other wall as he pushed it open.

The other occupants of the room not currently unconscious looked up in surprise as Satoshi hunched over with his hands on his knees for a moment, the door closing behind him much more softly than it had opened. "How is he?" he asked after a short moment of regaining his breath. He stood up and tucked the journal into his waistline again, and walked over to the bed beside the others. He was actually a bit surprised that all three of them were there.

"He's exactly the same as you left him." Takeshi answered, sounding the slightest bit miffed that his evening of potential fun was spent watching a sleeping person.

"What exactly were we supposed to be watching for?" Riku asked, wondering silently why Satoshi looked as if he'd run a marathon.

"I don't really know what could happen, that's why I wanted you guys to—"

But he never got to finish the statement, as Daisuke suddenly arched off the bed, letting out a very pained cry. The jewel imprint in his hand glowed fiercely, and his wing visibly snapped for what seemed to be no reason.

"Daisuke!" Satoshi shouted, and immediately ran to the boy's side. Risa shrieked in surprise, and jumped off the bed where she had been seated near him. Takeshi and Riku leaned forward curiously. Daisuke's hands wildly waved about, reaching for the injury in his wing in a sad attempt to alleviate some of the pain.

Satoshi grabbed Daisuke's hands in his own, keeping the boy from causing further injury to himself, and placed his knee over Daisuke's stomach to push him back onto the bed. "Daisuke!" he tried again, hoping in vain that it would somehow wake him up.

"What's happening to him…?" Risa asked curiously from the side, not entirely expecting an answer.

"I don't know!" Satoshi replied, voice coming off a lot more desperate than he liked. And then there was a searing heat spreading from his right hand where it touched Daisuke's left, and it felt like a flame traveling up his arm to engulf his entire body. He heard Daisuke whisper his name, loud inside his head as if it had been shouted, before he was pulled with a whirlwind of energy into the gem's realm. Only his whole body was dragged in, as opposed to only Daisuke's conscious.

The three friends left in the room stared in wide-eyed wonder at the now still form of Daisuke. They all turned to look at each other, then back to the bed, wondering what on earth had just transpired. "Is that what we were supposed to be watching for…?" Takeshi said slowly. The girls just shook their heads in confusion.

"Should we tell someone?" ventured Riku, glancing apprehensively at the door.

"And tell them what?" Risa replied. "I don't think anyone would believe us anyway. I'm not entirely sure _I_ believe what I just saw."

Takeshi nodded. "Risa's right. I guess we'll just have to wait and trust that Hiwatari knows what he's doing…"

Riku sighed and sat heavily on Satoshi's bed, still a bit afraid to go anywhere near Daisuke at the moment. The other two followed, and a rather uncomfortable silence ensued, as no one knew quite what to do at the moment.

- - - - - - - -

Setsubou's grip tightened, and Daisuke was finding it hard to breathe now, as the man's fingers were able to wrap completely around his neck. He was pulled from the floor, and his feet dangled about a foot above the stone below. Daisuke brought his hands up, clawing at the wrist that held him in a vain attempt to get free. He squeezed his eyes shut, a tear leaking from the corner. He was going to die, that's all there was to it.

And then suddenly he was free.

Satoshi fell gracelessly right into a mess of a situation, from the looks of it. He landed in a heap on the ground, noticing immediately the vines shooting of from the floor not a foot from his face. Sparing only a moment to wonder about that, he looked to his left at a source of unidentified noise, and gasped. There was Daisuke, being held in the air by the same man that had appeared as an apparition in the haunted house.

No, it wasn't quite the same man. This one harbored a crazed expression in his eyes, one that had not been present in the real Setsubou, as it became fast apparent to him that this man was not the original. And suddenly everything clicked in Satoshi's mind, like the final piece of a puzzle settling into place.

All these thoughts passed by in only a few seconds, as he jumped up almost immediately to rescue Daisuke. He leapt forward, and sent a flying sidekick into Setsubou's face, effectively causing the man to loose his hold and fall backwards. "Daisuke!" Satoshi cried in a mix of fear and relief, reaching out to catch the boy as he fell. They both crumpled to the floor, and Satoshi allowed himself a moment to hold on for a moment, glad that he had found Daisuke in relatively good health.

"Satoshi!" Daisuke clung tightly to his friend, amazed that his silent plea had somehow been answered. He suspected Heion might have something to do with that…then a sudden thought struck him. "Wait, what are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing." Satoshi replied, loosening his hold on the boy in his arms to glance at the wing that had been injured in the room. Yes, just as he had suspected, it was broken here as well. He might have made a comment on it, but was quickly reminded of the presence of an enemy in the room.

"Brat!" Setsubou yelled as he stood up again. He had his hand cupped over his nose, and blood seeped through his fingers, running down his chin as well. If looks could kill…Satoshi was sure he and Daisuke would've been dead ten times over by now. "You'll pay for that!" he said as he lunged forward to attack, all ideas of finesse or subtlety forgotten.

"Run!" Satoshi shouted, and he stood quickly, tugging on Daisuke's arm and dragging the boy along behind him.

"But Dark and—"

"No time!" Satoshi threw a glance over his shoulder, and saw that Setsubou was definitely following them, though with a slightly awkward gate since his hand was still clasped over his face. He quickly dragged Daisuke into a corridor on their right, then onto a staircase to their left. He kept making random turns, urging Daisuke to go as fast as he could, and was glad when he received no more protests.

Finally he made a sharp turn to the right, and wrenched open one of the more ornate doors, tossing Daisuke in first before entering himself and closing the door quickly. He fell back against the door, resting his head against it as he attempted to regain his breath for the second time that day.

He was surprised that Daisuke had said nothing so far, and opened his eyes to see why, only to see Daisuke staring toward the center of the room in amazement, and…fear? From outside, Setsubou's voice echoed through the corridors of the castle-like structure. "You can't hide forever boys!" Satoshi decided to ignore it for now…he was sure they were safe for at least a few minutes. Instead he allowed his gaze to follow the direction of Daisuke's and fairly gasped at what he saw.

They were standing in a ridiculously large circular room. On the floor was drawn a circle distanced five feet from the wall all around, and intricate designs covered almost every inch of the floor. In between the circle and the wall stood many suits of armor, each placed four feet from the next. And in the very center of the room was a large crystal, blue in hue and beautiful to behold. The most shocking thing about it though, was the presence of Dark and Krad inside, suspended back to back in midair, and looking as though they were asleep.

Daisuke stepped forward with his hand outstretched, but Satoshi immediately reached out, and pulled him back by his collar. "Daisuke wait." He whispered. "I somehow don't think it's a good idea to step on that circle…" He pointed to the designs and patterns, noting they looked to be of a very magical origin, and he'd rather not trigger some unknown trap or spell. Especially in a place like this.

Daisuke allowed himself to be pulled back, and sent a concerned glance toward Satoshi before looking again at the large crystal. "But Satoshi…we can't just leave them there!"

"No, but you can't just rush into an unknown situation without knowing of the consequences." He reprimanded absently, eyes darting about the room in an attempt to figure out the situation better. After a moment, he spoke again. "If I had to guess…I would say this is a key center point for the gem's power."

Eyes widening, Daisuke turned towards Satoshi again. "It must be! Setsubou said he needed Dark and Krad for some sort of power…we have to get them out of there!"

"You know of Setsubou?" Satoshi asked curiously.

"Yes, Heion told me his story, and what happened between them. How do you know of him?"

"Heion…his love." Satoshi gently pulled the journal from its holding spot. "I found this in his home; it's the Hikari's journal. He dabbled into some dangerous research, and angered the people around him because of it."

"Which is why he wasn't allowed to marry Heion." Daisuke whispered, any holes in the woman's story now being filled. "So that's why he's so vengeful! He hates the world because the world hated him…" Daisuke's expression fell as his eyes took on a far-away expression. "That's so sad…I have to do something!" And without warning, Daisuke darted past Satoshi and out the door.

"Daisuke, wait—!" But even as he reached out, the boy was already running down the hall and back the way they came.

He was just about to turn the first corner when Daisuke ran headlong into Setsubou. He fell backwards and winced as the impact jarred his wing, while Setsubou stumbled back a few steps.

"Well, you just made this easy for me little Niwa."

Daisuke watched the anger in the man's eyes, and realized it might have been a really stupid idea to run off like that. He wasn't sure what he had in mind to do…he only knew what Heion told him…that he had a power here that most would not. But what?

That was about the time Satoshi ran up behind him. "Daisuke, idiot, what are you doing?"

"Yes, Niwa, what _are_ you doing?"

Daisuke frowned in annoyance. Why didn't anybody ever think he was capable of doing something? Setsubou looked as if he was mocking him. "I'm stopping you, that's what I'm doing! You have to let Dark and Krad go!"

Setsubou laughed before looking at Daisuke with an eyebrow raised. "Let them go? Now that would defeat the entire purpose of putting all that hard work into catching them in the first place!"

"But you're going to destroy everything!" Daisuke argued. Heion hadn't actually said as much, but he could infer it by the way she spoke of what could happen.

Satoshi, seeing Daisuke hadn't bothered to stand up yet, walked over to him, and gently grabbed his arms to help him stand. He was surprised to feel that Daisuke was shaking; it hadn't been noticeable from a distance. He put a comforting and supporting arm around the young angel's waist, glaring daggers at Setsubou.

The Hikari spirit raised both his eyebrows this time. "And what's this, little Hikari to the rescue?"

"Sad that I should even have to 'rescue' someone from my own ancestor, don't you think?"

Setsubou was about to reply, but stopped at a sentence from Daisuke that was no more than a whisper. "You could still have her, you know."

Unfortunately this only seemed to anger the Hikari exponentially. "Do not speak of things you do not understand!" he shouted.

"I think Daisuke would understand matters of the heart better than you." Satoshi countered calmly, his grip around the boy tightening possessively. He pulled out the journal with his free hand, and held it up in an almost teasing manner. "You loved her, but were far too blinded by this research of yours to be able to keep her. It was your fault you lost her, and you realized this. The regret ate you from the inside until you were left as nothing but a vengeful spirit stuck inside this gem. Pathetic."

"What would you know, brat? I cannot imagine you would even know what love is. I do believe it's a Hikari trait, wouldn't you?" Setsubou taunted, folding his arms across his chest in an imperial way.

Satoshi smirked in response. "Perhaps, but I have stepped outside of that sorry tradition." His arm moved up to curl around Daisuke's shoulders, and he pulled him close so that he could rest his head against the smaller boy's. "I very well do know what love is, and I'm sorry to see that you were so inept, but that is no reason to take out your vengeance on the rest of the world." Setsubou was watching them warily, and Satoshi could practically see the pieces being put together in his mind.

Daisuke blushed, but did not resist as Satoshi pulled him closer. He let the older boy finish before adding his own thoughts. "True love can't be forgotten so easily. I bet you do still love her…you're just afraid."

These were the wrong words to say, Daisuke realized as Setsubou immediately tensed, and shouted "Enough!" He flung his arm sideways, and more vines burst through the wall straight at the two boys. They sprang apart to avoid the vicious plants, and were forced to continue dodging as Setsubou attacked relentlessly.

Daisuke suddenly thought of a way they might be safe, and yelled at Satoshi to follow him before turning around and darting back into the room holding Dark and Krad captive.

Setsubou followed immediately, and his eyes narrowed as he realized where the Niwa had led them all. He advanced slowly toward Daisuke, hoping that he might be able to grab him by hand and move the fight elsewhere before any damage came to the most important room of the castle.

Daisuke stepped slowly backwards and Setsubou followed. Satoshi stared in amazement, for as soon as both had stepped upon the circle drawn on the floor, it began to glow, starting from their feet and spreading slowly to fill in each line, circle, and pattern.

A breeze slowly filled the room, starting as barely noticeable and picking up until a light gale swept about them. The lines continued to glow until they reached the center point. All the patterns converged into one center point at the crystal, and when the glow reached this point, the crystal container lit up brilliantly, and began to lift up from the ornate pedestal below it. It spun slowly, and the light grew brighter, shooting across every surface in the room.

The three occupants of the room stopped to watch in amazement. The awe was broken as Setsubou began to laugh. Deep, boisterous and satisfied laughter filled the air as much as the light. "Perfect!" He cried as he held his arms out about him, soaking in the power that crackled in the air. "I must thank you, young Niwa! Who knew you would be the missing key I was searching for!"

"What?" Daisuke whirled around to face him. He wasn't supposed to be helping!

"At last, this is the power I have yearned for, for far too long! And now that you have helped me unlock it…I must get rid of you." Again he swept his arm to the side, but this time there were no vines. He called upon the very energy around him, and lashed out with pure power.

"Daisuke!" Satoshi shouted, and he leapt forward, slamming into Daisuke's side and knocking them both out of harm's way for the time being.

Daisuke grunted as Satoshi landed on top of him, glad he hadn't landed on his injured wing. And that was when he felt it; the power swirling around them like another tangible being. As he thought about his wing, he felt the energy wrap around the wound, and then release it, leaving in its wake a perfectly mended wing. Satoshi had pushed himself up by now, and Daisuke sat up straight as well, flexing the wing experimentally. No pain.

A smile slowly found its way to Daisuke's face. This was it; this was the power Heion had alluded to. He was the one brought in to help her balance the gem's forces again, and this was the very power he could control to do it! Perhaps it was the power Setsubou needed to control all, but it was also the very thing that Daisuke was determined to make his downfall.

Standing quickly, Daisuke stepped in front of Satoshi and spread his wings wide in a show of confidence; a subconscious action to prove he was to be a worthy opponent.

Setsubou's eyes narrowed slowly, but he obviously did not take Daisuke's threat too seriously. "So willing to sacrifice yourselves for the other, are you? Fools! You must learn that love will only hold you back!" Spreading both his arms this time, Setsubou gathered the power around him, and sent a burst of the light to each of the armored suits standing about the room. Each suit's eyes glowed a bright purple hue as they were given prosthetic life, and they raised their swords and began advancing towards Daisuke.

Satoshi stood up, and pressed his back to Daisuke's. "I hope you are as confident as you look, because I've got no idea how to fight these guys." Satoshi muttered.

Daisuke smiled, and without taking his eyes from the slowly advancing soldiers, whispered back "Get on my back."

"What?" Satoshi asked, not entirely sure what Daisuke was playing at. He wasn't sure the smaller boy could even carry his weight.

"Trust me, Satoshi."

Their heads turned enough that they could see the other's face, and Satoshi was surprised at the smile on Daisuke's face, and the light in his eyes. He had no choice but to trust him, and so he did. He quickly turned around, and wrapped his arms around Daisuke's neck while his legs went around the boy's waist.

Daisuke's smile turned to a grin, and he bent down just slightly before launching himself into the air. A visible cloud of energy appeared beneath his feet as he pushed from the ground. He wasn't sure how he'd known that he would be able to support them both with wings he'd only used once, but it was something instinctual so he hadn't questioned it.

Being careful to keep his balance for Satoshi, he gave all thought to his instincts and reflexes right now, as the power flowing through his every nerve seemed to know what it was doing. He relinquished all control, and when he wished to attack, he felt the energy gathering into his hands. He mimicked Setsubou's earlier movement, and was amazed as two tin soldiers fell as if by an invisible blade, lifeless statues once again.

With a surprised laugh, he kept doing this, floating just above the reach of the armor and swords, and occasionally dodging swords thrown by the ones that gathered some sort of intelligence. A couple came close to hitting him, but he was almost able to feel them cutting through the air before they reached him, so none ever hit their marks. Finally all metal enemies had been felled, and Daisuke brought his first two fingers in front of him and blew across them, mockingly imitating an old American western he had seen once…somewhere.

"Whoa…" Satoshi's voice whispered from somewhere around his shoulder. "Remind me to never make you angry…" he said jokingly, and Daisuke laughed. But he was soon distracted as he heard some sort of muttering, it almost sounded like chanting. He suddenly remembered that those suits of armor had not been the only enemies in the room, and he turned towards the source of the noise.

Setsubou was standing in the center of a smaller circular design set into the larger one, and had his hands clutched around something –a pendant it seemed- attached to his neck. He was muttering under his breath, and the glow beneath his feet had become brighter. Energy was visible traveling from the gem and to him, and he almost seemed to be glowing like the rest of the room.

Daisuke started to gather a bit of power to throw off whatever the man was doing, but it was too late. Setsubou's eyes snapped open, completely white, and an unavoidable tidal wave of power was sent straight towards Daisuke. He cried out as it slammed into him, sending the two boys flying backwards, and causing them to crash harshly into the ground. Daisuke raised his arms over his face as if to protect himself as the entire room was filled with a radiant white light.

It engulfed everything it touched, incinerating the fallen armor, and bursting through the skylights circling the ceiling, sending a shower of glass into the room. Daisuke was sure he was dead. There was no way he could survive such an attack, whatever it was. That was until he heard one word gasped out in shock.

"Heion!"

Daisuke's head snapped up in surprise, to find that Heion was indeed there. He heard Satoshi gasp as the boy crawled up beside him, and he had to agree.

The woman stood with her arms outstretched, hair flying about her in the after effects of Setsubou's attack. Her simple dress was tattered, and she was now covered in cuts that lashed across her entire body. Blood dripped to the floor, quickly forming a small pool of it below her; it dribbled from her mouth as well and Daisuke was sure he had never seen her look stronger. Her eyes were practically glowing as she stared in defiance at her former lover.

She stood as a wall between them, and Daisuke realized she had just saved their lives.

"Heion…" Daisuke whispered. "Why did you…?"

Heion turned halfway to face them with gentle eyes. "I could not allow you to die, little one. My existence is of little importance…but you have people that love you. You must go back to them."

"Little importance? But you—" Daisuke wasn't even sure how to express what he was feeling. He hadn't known her long, or talked to her much, but he felt a very strong attachment to her all the same.

"Take my powers, little one. Use them to defeat the evil that a once great Hikari has become. Save your friends, and return to your world untainted by the chaos. And perhaps you will be able to unite these two families as Setsubou and I never could." She turned to Setsubou, and blew him a gentle kiss, smiling softly as the sparkle left her eyes, and she fell to her knees before collapsing completely onto the floor.

The very power in the room shifted, as if in mourning, and wrapped around Heion's still form, which glowed brightly for a moment, before forming into a blue ball of pure, glittering energy. It floated gently towards Daisuke who, tears streaming down his face, reached out for the orb, and pulled it to him as if in a hug. It was absorbed into his body, and yet flowed around it at the same time.

After a moment of silence, he turned towards Satoshi, who nodded once. "Do what you have to do, Daisuke. Go."

Daisuke nodded in return, and stood. He felt as if he could carry the earth upon his shoulders at the moment, and he vowed not to let Heion's sacrifice go to waste. "Do you still think it foolish, Setsubou?" Daisuke asked in a dangerous voice. "I'm afraid love is a far more powerful emotion than hate, you'll find. Sure, sometimes it makes you do stupid things…but it can also be the root of amazing things as well."

The power was out of Daisuke's control now. He only had a vague idea of what he wanted to do, but his emotions, the power, the very chaos itself was in control.

Setsubou seemed, for once, to be speechless. A flicker of recognition –of remorse- passed through his eyes as he stared at the blood pooled on the floor. Daisuke frowned as he watched. "Funny what you don't miss until it's gone." His gaze slid over to the hovering crystal, and lighted on Dark's seemingly unconscious form. And then with resolve firmly set, he allowed the power resting impatiently within him free reign.

Daisuke propelled himself into the air again, and landed in a crouch on top of the shimmering crystal. He closed his eyes, and focused on the pulse below him.

Setsubou's eyes widened, realizing what was happening. "No! What do you think are you doing?" he cried in a desperate attempt to distract Daisuke. He began running towards Daisuke, a long halberd forming in his hand as he did so.

Daisuke looked up, and Satoshi, who had stood to the side in case Daisuke needed help, was amazed at the serious expression in the reddish eyes. "Exactly what Heion wished me to do." He answered, and sent a great surge of power through his hands.

It started as a crack, which started spreading across the jewel. "You idiot! You're going to get us all killed!" Setsubou yelled, and jumped into the air, swinging the halberd down as gravity pulled him back to the ground, but it was too late. Daisuke smirked and jumped backwards, and the blade crashed into the already damaged crystal.

The great shimmering stone shattered, and the power contained within burst forth, knocking everyone away from it. Once more the room was engulfed in light, only this time it consisted of every color imaginable.

Daisuke, who had landed near Satoshi when he jumped, turned quickly and wrapped the boy in a tight hug, folding his wings around them both and knowing Heion would protect them all. And then he blacked out.

- - - - - - - - -

"So what exactly is it that we're waiting for?" A bored yet still worried Riku asked to the silent room.

"What?" Takeshi replied, lifting his chin from his hand to stare at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you said we should just sit and wait. But what exactly are we waiting for? What's going to happen? Where did Hiwatari even go?"

"You honestly can't expect us to know the answers to those questions." Risa responded as she inspected her nails for imperfections.

Riku huffed and was about to drop backwards to lie on the bed, but at that moment her questions were answered.

There was a great flash of light in the room, and a bang that sounded like a cross between thunder and a gunshot.

Daisuke gasped as spirit was reunited with body, and Satoshi, Dark and Krad seemed to materialize from thin air. Satoshi was still wrapped in a tight embrace with Daisuke, and the two spirits seemed to still be unconscious.

Satoshi lifted his head up and took a quick glance around the room to affirm his suspicions. They were back. "Oh thank God." He muttered, burying his face into Daisuke's neck, reveling in the fact that they were alive and home again. "You did it Daisuke. You actually did it!" He smiled, and in a moment of almost uncharacteristic happiness, kissed Daisuke right on the lips. It was rather spontaneous, and didn't last long, but it was still enough to leave Daisuke blushing profusely and grinning like an idiot.

It also left the yet-unnoticed friends staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

Daisuke felt a slight twinge in his left hand, and brought it up so he could see. The red swirls that had wrapped around his wrist and hand were disintegrating, and the color lifted into the air like powder before disappearing completely. Then the black gem itself, the original created by setsubou, slowly seemed to be absorbed into the skin until no trace was left.

"It's accepted you." Satoshi whispered. At Daisuke's confused glance, he elaborated. "Setsubou's love for Heion was so great that he was sure she could tame the wild nature the gem had obtained. Since she was unable to complete this task, it fell to you, and now it's accepted you as its savior. You can read about it in his journal later, but now we don't have to worry about it anymore…" he finished with a small smile.

From the side Takeshi politely coughed, and reality came crashing back to the boys on the bed. Satoshi shot up and was instantly a good couple of feet away from Daisuke, who looked questioningly at his friends. "What are you guys doing in here?" he asked, ever the tactful one.

Takeshi chuckled. "Watching you two get together, apparently. I always knew there was something strange about you guys."

"Dai-chan's not the one you have to worry about." Said a voice from behind the boys. "It's creepy-boy over there that's the strange one."

Daisuke's eyes widened, and he turned around quickly to see Dark standing there, a smirking grin on his face as usual. "Dark! You made it back okay!" he said excitedly, standing up on the bed to give Dark a hug.

Dark laughed. "You're just all sorts of affectionate today, aren't ya, kiddo?" But he opened his arms in welcome anyway. "Still got your wings too, I see."

Daisuke pulled back and stuck his tongue out. "You're just jealous 'cause I have my own wings now." To which Dark laughed again and tweaked Daisuke's nose.

Satoshi watched the reunion with a small smile playing across his features. The two of them were sort of like brothers…only with less fighting. It was amazing really, and he found himself wondering what it would've been like to have that sort of relationship with Krad. "Sickening, isn't it?" Said a cold voice from beside him.

The young detective only sighed and rolled his eyes. "Shut up Krad."

Krad chuckled and placed his hand on Satoshi's head, ruffling the hair gently before pulling his hand back. Satoshi looked at him curiously, but Krad's attention was on Dark. And then Satoshi realized…he recognized that look. With a conspiratorial grin, he leaned towards Krad and whispered, "You like him."

Krad looked indignant, but it was a little more forced than usual. "Satoshi-sama! How dare you suggest such a thing!"

Satoshi only grinned, before deciding to change the subject lest he bring back Krad's former attitude. "So how exactly did you guys come back separate from us? What broke the curse?"

"Now that's an interesting question." Dark responded, having been listening to their conversation.

Risa leaned towards the other two sitting on the bed with her and asked in a low voice, "Do you guys have any idea what's going on?" Her only response was two slowly shaking heads in confusion.

Takeshi was the one to speak. "No…but I think we should leave them alone." At Riku's surprised look he added, "Of course I'm going to question them relentlessly later, but I think this is something that should be just between those guys…"

Risa sighed, and sent one more glance to the group that seemed to be paying them no attention at all. "I agree. Come on, they're safe, let's just go to bed for now." So the three got up and quietly slipped through the door. If anyone noticed them leaving, they didn't say anything.

Daisuke stared at his hand contemplatively as he thought about Satoshi's question. "Maybe it's because of me and Satoshi?" he ventured, not quite looking up at the other three.

Dark tilted his head to the side a bit. "You think so?"

"Well, you were supposed to disappear after the one I loved, loved me back, right? But, well…what if that person were the carrier of the other curse like that, and…well…" Daisuke trailed off, not entirely sure of the point he was trying to make.

Satoshi chuckled and decided to relieve Daisuke from his embarrassment. "It could have been that, but there's also this entire ordeal with the chaos gem to consider. We were all separated by Setsubou, and perhaps a trip to this chaos realm just cemented the separation."

Dark sighed heavily. "Yes, well, whatever the reason, I think it should be discussed tomorrow. Or never, either one works for me. But I'm a bit tired tonight, and Daisuke, you must be exhausted." He finished with a glance at his former tamer, and laughed as he noticed the boy was already yawning. "Right, well, bedtime then. We'll just take your bed over there if you don't mind, Satoshi." Without waiting for permission, Dark pushed Krad towards the other bed, and fairly collapsed into it.

Krad rolled his eyes. "Lights?" he asked, hand hovering over the light switch. Satoshi nodded, and the room was engulfed in the absolute darkness always found in hotel rooms at night when the light first goes off.

Daisuke blinked in surprise as everyone went from excited and relieved to sleep so quickly, but he quickly forgot it as Satoshi tugged on his arm, causing him to fall sideways onto the bed. "Pull in your wings." Satoshi muttered, and Daisuke did so with less effort than before.

Satoshi nodded in approval, and pulled Daisuke to him so that the boy's back was pressed against his chest, and wrapped an arm around his waist.

Daisuke was glad for the darkness, as he couldn't see how much he was blushing. Yes, tomorrow would be the perfect time to discuss everything, but now he was going to enjoy the feeling of being wrapped in such a comforting embrace. He brought his hand up to the one resting against his stomach, and entwined his fingers with Satoshi's, quickly falling into a deep sleep uninterrupted by dreams.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sorry it's a tad shorter than the last chapter…but a lot happened at least. And they're all back and safe! And I found out the soundtrack for Paprika is amazingly inspiring to writing. (The whole chapter, starting at the scene where the circle starts glowing, was written while listening to it)

K- kay, first of all; come on, cut me some slack, will ya? I probably would've had this up sometime last week, but it was finals week, and ridiculously stressful at that. Most of my time was spent studying, sleeping, or generally freaking out about exams.

Second of all; wouldn't that make you 11? o.o Buuuut, I won't hold it against ya, I've never paid any mind to the story ratings either. Lol.

I feel like the beginning of this chapter is horridly disjointed, as I couldn't quite get my thoughts to coordinate themselves. But then Comet decided to be nice to me and I feel better about the rest of it. Heh, anyways, I think I'm only gonna have one more chapter after this. Basically an epilogue of sorts. ::sniff:: So thank you for all your support! (This would've never been finished if it weren't for the reviews!)


	10. Epilogue of Sorts

And here we are…the grand conclusion. Though it's probably not that grand at all. Not much action to speak of here. Just some tying of loose ends, and fluffiness. Fluffy like an Ozmone Hare! (Or like a bunny if you've never played FF XII)

- - - - - - - - - - -

**Chapter 10: Epilogue of Sorts**

- - - - - - - - - - -

Krad woke slowly the next morning, with a contented feeling that was most unusual for him. The sun was barely peeking through a crack in the curtains, and there was a hand running languidly through his hair, leaving with him a peaceful feeling that he didn't quite wish to wake up and acknowledge. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew exactly who was beside him and how he was supposed to react. But after all they had gone through in the last…who knew how many days, he decided it wasn't worth the effort to tell Dark off. And on an even deeper level, he knew he was enjoying the attentions.

"I know you're awake…" a soft voice murmured behind him, and Krad sighed realizing that of course Dark wouldn't let him lie in a state of blissful denial all morning.

"Good for you." His voice still sounded half asleep.

Dark chuckled. "And a good morning to you too." Krad grunted in response, and there was a long moment of silence, Dark never stopping his gentle ministrations. When Krad opened his eyes again, he noticed the bed across from theirs was empty. "Where are the boys?" he muttered, not really sounding like he cared at all.

"Satoshi said something about a meeting with their classmates as they were walking out the door. I was still mostly asleep though, so he might've said something entirely different."

Krad rolled his eyes. "Wonderful, Dark. Good to know who _not_ to go to when I need important information."

Dark huffed indignantly and buried his face in the back of Krad's neck, and the golden hair spread about the pillow. "I was tired…" There was a moment of silence before Krad laughed just out of the blue.

Tilting his head and furrowing his brow, Dark asked curiously, "What's so funny?"

"Hm…just thinking how fun it would be to go down and scare the shit out of Satoshi-sama's classmates." Krad muttered absently, rolling onto his back to stare at the white ceiling.

He laughed again when he saw Dark's expression. The thief looked like he was trying to be appalled, amused, confused, and approving all at the same time. "Yeah, now who's being immature, Mr. High-and-Mighty?"

"Hmph. You're still the master of that area, as far as I'm concerned." Krad answered dismissively.

"Damn straight." Dark muttered, and then seemed to realize he was agreeing with insulting himself. "Hey!" He said with a glare to the blonde.

Krad just smirked, and shifted his gaze to finally look Dark in the eye. "You're such an idiot…" he said condescendingly before grabbing the back of Dark's head and bringing the other man down for a –slightly rough- kiss.

Dark was so surprised that for a moment he simply sat there, still as a statue. Then his brain finally caught up with him and he murmured around Krad's lips, "But an irresistible idiot." Before responding to the kiss wholeheartedly. After all, why question a good thing?

- - - - - - - - -

"Strange how some of the most drastic things to happen in your own life are simply unimportant to others, isn't it?"

Satoshi and Daisuke were sitting in the hotel lobby area along with the rest of their classmates. Satoshi was sitting in an overly stuffed armchair, while Daisuke perched on the armrest. The redheaded boy looked down curiously at Satoshi's random statement. Neither had been paying any attention to the teacher currently giving some speech or another anyway. "What do you mean?" Daisuke asked, leaning against the back of the chair to better hear the other boy.

"We were just in a whole other world…realm, whatever, and nobody in this class has any idea we were even gone. Their lives just went on normally, while we were fighting for our own."

Daisuke smiled softly and tilted his head to the side. "Yeah…but, I think it's better that way. It'd be pretty crazy if everyone was involved in the things we did outside of school."

Satoshi smothered an amused grin at the possible double meaning of Daisuke's statement, as he was sure the innocent youth wasn't even aware of it. So he just agreed, and they both turned back to the teacher for the last two minutes of her speech.

When she had finished telling them to have fun and sign up for game night that night –if they wanted to- the principal dismissed the students, and left to have her own teacher fun.

After following half of the class out the front doors of the hotel, (the other half went back to their rooms) Daisuke and Satoshi found themselves simply walking along the shoreline. Daisuke had removed his shoes long ago, and grinned as his toes dug into the wet sand, and the waves lapped at his feet.

Satoshi watched with a small smile on his face as the younger boy splashed about in the water, randomly chasing those 'funny little birds that run from the waves' as they had been dubbed, much to his amusement. A few minutes later he was brought from his musings as the very object of his thoughts walked up to him, staring at him with curious red eyes.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Daisuke asked softly.

"Nothing…everything." Satoshi replied vaguely, moving his gaze back out to the sea.

Daisuke pouted. "You can't think about nothing and everything at the same time." He muttered. Satoshi disagreed, but didn't say anything. It was a stupid thing to argue over anyway.

So lost in his own thoughts was he, that Satoshi almost jumped when he felt a hand tentatively slide into his own. He looked down at the questioning gaze of the boy beside him, and smiled. It was a smile that rarely showed on his face, if ever. One that showed he was completely content, and worry free if only for a moment. On impulse, Satoshi bent down, and placed a lingering kiss on Daisuke's forehead. He smiled in amusement as Daisuke blushed fiercely from such a simple action.

Satoshi was amazed at how right it felt, just simple little things like a kiss on the forehead, or holding hands on the beach. He was sure he'd never felt so…_real_ in his life. After harboring Krad, getting a college degree before age 14, then leading a police investigation…he had never been able to be just _Satoshi_ before. Never been able to be a normal human. But being with Daisuke brought such a simple completeness to him that he was amazed he'd never felt its absence before. In a sudden rush of emotion, he pulled Daisuke to him in a tight hug; one that said he wasn't ever going to let go, no matter what.

Daisuke squeaked in surprise at the sudden action, but wrapped his arms around Satoshi just as affectionately. He inhaled deeply Satoshi's slightly musky scent mixed with the ocean breeze around them, and turned his head to the side so he could speak. "What brought this on?"

"Nothing…come on, let's go get some ice cream." Satoshi suggested suddenly.

Daisuke looked at him with a questioning sort of amusement, but agreed quickly. After all, who can resist the offer of ice cream?

There was a small little ice cream shack a little ways down, off the large sidewalk that ran parallel to the shoreline. All sorts of shops were set up along it in fact, most of them tourist and souvenir shops. They passed all of those, and waited in the short line to get their ice cream –chocolate for Daisuke and mint chocolate chip for Satoshi-. Once they had their cones, they headed to a nearby pier that was half hidden in a sort of cove of palm trees and other native plants of the island. They both sat on the end, legs swinging over the edge and occasionally brushing the water below, and sometimes the other's feet.

They were both silent for a while, each enjoying his own ice cream. Then Satoshi looked towards Daisuke, and laughed suddenly.

"What?" Daisuke asked defensively, beginning to wonder if the other boy hadn't left part of his sanity in the Chaos Realm.

"How did you get ice cream on your nose?"

Daisuke blinked, and went cross-eyed trying to see said ice cream.

Satoshi chuckled again before saying, "Here, let me." And before Daisuke could say anything, he leaned forward and licked the ice cream off the boy's nose, immediately going back to his own ice cream like nothing had happened.

"S-Satoshi! What was that for?"

"You had ice cream on your nose. I got it off for you."

Daisuke frowned playfully. "That was possibly just about the corniest thing you could've done."

Satoshi was barely able to suppress a smile. "I don't see you complaining."

"What do you think I was just doing?"

"I might take you seriously if you weren't grinning like an idiot."

"What?! I am not grinning like a—" But he never got to finish that statement because Satoshi quickly leaned over again, and kissed him properly as they hadn't been able to before.

It was perfect in every way, just as Daisuke had always hoped for his first kiss to be. Or at least, it was perfect in his mind; simply because of the fact that it was Satoshi he was kissing. That was, until the blunette yelped suddenly, and pulled away.

"Satoshi? What's wrong?" Daisuke asked worriedly. Was it something he'd done?

"Cold…" Satoshi muttered, distastefully removing the scoop of ice cream that had fallen on his leg from Daisuke's abandoned cone.

Daisuke couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. He tried to hold it in, really he did, but it was just too funny, especially the look on Satoshi's face!

Satoshi glared playfully, but found he couldn't even be annoyed while Daisuke was on his back, clutching his sides from laughing so hard. So he just rolled his eyes, and decided a bit of cleaning up was in order, and to get his revenge on Daisuke. Smirking slightly, Satoshi stood up, removed his shirt, and cannon balled into the ocean. Daisuke abruptly stopped laughing as he was splashed by the water, and sat up. "That was random." He pointed out.

"Yes, well, I had to get the ice cream off me somehow…this seemed to be the easiest way to do it. Now help me back up, would you?" He held out his arms for Daisuke to grab, and as soon as he had the other boy's hands in his, he tugged hard.

Daisuke made some unintelligible noise as he was dragged into the ocean as well. He came back up from his ungraceful plunge looking like a cross between a wet cat and a kicked puppy. "Satoshiiiii…" he said with pout. "What'd ya do that for?"

"For dumping ice cream on me. It was cold!" he retorted, and Daisuke laughed again. They played around for a few more hours, simply enjoying the freedom of not having to worry about the gem anymore. Daisuke suggested checking on Krad and Dark at one point, but Satoshi dismissed the notion, saying they should give them some time to relax as well. So Daisuke just shrugged and instigated a splash-fest.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Dark and Krad were in the middle of their fourth movie by the time Daisuke and Satoshi walked back in the room, holding a couple of bags and looking as if they had thoroughly been enjoying themselves.

Dark raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Had fun, Dai-chan?"

Daisuke stuck his tongue out and threw the nearest pillow at the thief. After so much time with the man in the back of his mind, he'd learned to tell when he was being perverted. "Yes I did. Hope you two weren't too bored in here while we were gone." He said, smile falling just a bit.

The two alter egos exchanged an amused glance, and Satoshi raised his eyebrows. Daisuke was clueless as always.

"No need to worry about us, Niwa." Krad answered.

"What's in the bags?" Dark never could stand not knowing something.

"We bought some sandwiches!" Daisuke answered proudly, pulling several types of sandwiches, bottles of soda, tea, and a couple other drinks from the plastic bags.

"Thought you guys might be hungry." Satoshi supplied in explanation. Then he lifted an eyebrow at the TV. "Cinderella?" he asked, looking like he was trying not to laugh.

"Yes, your choice of movies is severely lacking." Krad muttered.

Daisuke shrugged as he sat on his bed, and began pulling the plastic wrapping from his chicken salad sandwich. "Not our fault…hotel provided those."

Satoshi sat down next to Daisuke, pulling his own sandwich out of the bag. "I don't think they actually expect people to stay in the rooms and watch movies."

The rest of lunch was eaten in a relative peace, with only the occasional playful banter, which is actually quite amazing considering half the people in the room had once been at each other's throats.

Afterwards they sat in contented silence, Cinderella still playing in the background as no one had bothered to stop the movie.

Daisuke was the first to start the conversation that everyone was thinking about, but no one quite sure how to bring it up. "So what happened to the Chaos Realm? And the Gem?"

Surprisingly, Krad was the first to answer. "They're gone."

Everyone waited a moment for the blonde to elaborate, but he never did. Satoshi rolled his eyes. "Real informative, Krad."

"Hey, he didn't ask how."

"You know what he meant."

"How do you know? I'm not a mind reader."

"Guys!" It was Dark that time. "Leave the bickering for some other time. I think creepy boy knows something."

"He has a name, Dark." Daisuke reprimanded.

Dark grinned. "I know."

Daisuke sighed and shook his head. The thief was hopeless.

"Name calling aside…he's got a point. I made a visit to Setsubou's house and was able to find his journal. And that man we met…that wasn't the real Setsubou Hikari."

"Does that have anything to do with the vengeance he and Heion mentioned?" Daisuke questioned, thinking back to the version of the story he'd been given.

"Yeah. When I visited the house –stupid thing wouldn't let me in until I mentioned I had to save Daisuke- it showed me a memory of the moment the Gem was cast away, and Setsubou's house was invaded."

Dark's brow furrowed in thought. "What do you mean it showed you?"

"Exactly as I said, kaitou. The house had a strong magical field around and in it, thus it was able to project the memory almost like a film. It created an image of Setsubou, and I saw the last time he wrote in his journal, and how he had to hide as his house was invaded by angry villagers and neighbors." He tried _not_ to remember what he saw had become of the man. "It's how I found the journal in fact."

"And this journal is so relevant, why?" Krad asked, sounding half interested, and half skeptically annoyed.

"Because it allowed me to understand the gem. Setsubou, for some reason, began to research about Chaos. It was probably his psychiatric nature which drove him to understand it. Unfortunately, his coworkers didn't like it, so they kicked him out. He became obsessed with it. Even Heion, whom he loved dearly, was pushed to the side."

When Satoshi paused, Daisuke decided to add his own two cents. "Heion told me that Setsubou made the Gem for her. That it was supposed to be a gift."

"He did, and it was. But she refused the gift, for by this time he was already being dragged down by the Chaos he was studying. He wrote that he used hypnotism to have his –mentally unstable- patients enter their own minds."

"Okay that's kinda creepy." Dark muttered. "huh, guess it's hereditary…"

Satoshi glared at him before continuing. "Yes, well, as I said, he became consumed by it for a while before realizing his own mistake. Once he did it was too late. Heion's parents refused to let him near their daughter, his work had refused him, and the people feared him. He became angry and depressed. It was these feelings that ended up tainting the Gem. Since he had put so much work into the gift, and since it was born from love, a part of his soul was given to the stone. So when he turned bitter, the red slashes seeped into the gem, an expression of his resentment. He called the first mark he saw a 'wound to mar the perfect flesh of the gem'."

"Poetic man, wasn't he?" Daisuke commented randomly, and Satoshi smiled.

"Yes, he wrote in old tongue. It always does sound more poetic than casual speech of today." Satoshi sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But back to the topic, I believe the Setsubou we saw in the Chaos Realm was like the apparition I was shown in the house. Merely a projected image created from his feelings of anger, hatred, heartache and regret. The Setsubou of the journal was nothing like that."

"So what about Heion then?" Daisuke asked. "She never even touched the Gem, right? So why was she there?"

"That one's a bit tougher, and I can only make an educated guess."

"Well let's hear it, then, commander." Dark said, an obvious jab at Satoshi's police-like tendencies.

"Shut up, Dark." he responded, and Krad snickered. He found it much funnier when the phrase wasn't directed at him. "You too, Krad." The snicker immediately turned into a glare. This time Daisuke laughed, and Satoshi sighed heavily, turning a stern look to the boy on the bed beside him. "Don't make me say it to you too, Daisuke."

Daisuke smiled, and positioned himself so that his head lay across Satoshi's lap. "Sorry."

"Hey, no fair. That's direct manipulation!" Dark protested.

"Dark, we're not in court, here!" Satoshi replied and Daisuke laughed again.

Satoshi nearly growled in frustration. "How did we even get so off topic anyway?"

"Well." Dark said slowly. "I believe it started when—"

"Rhetorical question, Dark."

"I asked about Heion." Daisuke spoke, deciding to say something before Satoshi exploded at them all.

"Right, Heion Niwa." Satoshi placed one hand behind him to brace himself, and ran the other absently through the red hair splayed across his lap. "I believe that since she was the reason the Gem was created, and she was most likely the only thing on his mind as he crafted it, that an imprint of her was put into the Gem as well."

"So that's why she was so nice." Daisuke mumbled, his eyes now closed.

"Probably. It would make sense that the image reflect how Setsubou saw her."

"But why did she sacrifice herself like that? Couldn't there have been another way…?"

Satoshi was a bit surprised at how sad Daisuke sounded about it. The woman must have really made an impression on him. "I think…she hoped for a chance like that actually."

Dark raised a skeptical eyebrow. "She hoped for a chance to kill herself?"

Satoshi sighed for what felt to be the millionth time that day. "Dark, have you no tact? It wasn't a chance to kill herself, it was a chance to weaken the Gem, and to give Daisuke the power to do what she could not."

"Are you going to get to the point anytime soon?" Krad asked.

Satoshi frowned. "Maybe if you guys would stop interrupting with inane comments, then I might be able to." He waited for a moment to see if anybody would argue, before nodding in satisfaction and continuing.

"Heion, since she was a part of the Gem itself, was unable to destroy it. That is why she needed someone from the outside. And since Daisuke was a direct descendant, he was chosen simply because of the extra power that bond by blood would give them. And because Setsubou chose Heion as the Gem's redeemer."

"What?" That was of course Dark's intelligent reply.

"Setsubou realized at the end what had happened to him, and knew that he had somehow corrupted the Gem. He just wasn't quite sure how. So in a last desperate move, he threw the gem out the window of his basement, hoping against hope that Heion would find it, and would be able to purify his tainted touch."

"But it didn't get to Heion, did it?" Daisuke asked in half statement, half question.

"No…and as a result it just kept getting more corrupted, causing the Setsubou within the Gem to become restless, and awaken from some sort of dormancy he had been placed in."

Dark tilted his head to the side in thought. "So since Heion didn't 'purify' the Gem or whatever, the responsibility was just passed down the line?"

"Exactly." Satoshi answered, glad that Dark had said something useful for once. "And when Heion lent her power to Daisuke, the generations combined were enough to overcome Setsubou's threat. Even the additional power he gained from you guys was not enough, since your power was not attuned to his as Daisuke's was to Heion's."

"So what became of everything then?" Krad asked. "We didn't really just destroy this entire Chaos Realm, did we?"

Satoshi shrugged, and looked as if he was trying to remember whether he'd read anything about it.

Daisuke finally answered instead. "No…I don't think so. Heion told me that the Gem was created by vengeance, which created an unintended link. The Realm itself wasn't created by Setsubou, only a link to it."

Satoshi's eyes widened in realization. "So the Gem was a gateway."

"Yeah…she said that the Chaos has always been around, and always seeks to control people. Remember all those people we saw in the place?"

Dark shuddered. "You mean all the crazy people? How can you forget…?"

"Crazy people…that's just it, isn't it?" Satoshi said slowly, as if coming to a realization. "All of them literally were insane. Well, this gives a whole new meaning to 'not all there'."

There was silence for a moment as everyone thought about this revelation, except for Daisuke who had already been told. Then suddenly Dark spoke up, and said jokingly, "Think they'd give us an award for scientific discovery?"

Satoshi rolled his eyes. "Please, no one would ever believe us. I probably wouldn't believe you if you just came up and told me that people go crazy because part of their minds are taken to the Chaos Realm."

Dark pouted. "Worth a shot…"

"No, Dark." Krad answered, brooking no room for argument.

Satoshi and Daisuke laughed, and the atmosphere grew lighter as conversations of the Chaos drew to a subtle but recognizable end.

Menial chatter followed for a while after, as the four discussed inconsequential topics. Finally, Daisuke asked the two spirits, "So how are we going to get you two home?"

Dark and Krad exchanged a glance, and Dark shrugged.

"True, we can't exactly bring the 'Phantom Thief' and a person obviously not a member of our class back on the boat with us." Satoshi mused, wondering why he hadn't thought of this earlier.

"Awe, come on Satoshi, where's your sense of adventure?" Dark asked, obviously quite enamored with the thought of showing himself to the adoring public.

Satoshi rolled his eyes. "Sensibly far away from yours, Dark. How far can you fly?"

Dark blinked a couple of times. "I don't know…not like I've ever flown a marathon or anything, why—oh no. You're not gonna make us fly home!"

Satoshi smirked, showing that was exactly what he was planning to do. "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"We could hide them in cloaks and tell the teachers we found two beach bums that needed homes." Daisuke murmured quite seriously.

Satoshi stared blankly at the boy still lying across his lap before laughing. "Somehow, I don't think that would work, Daisuke, sorry."

"Frankly, I think I'd rather fly back home than hang around here with all these kids." Krad muttered.

Dark looked as if he'd been betrayed. "Krad! You can't be serious!" he whined.

Krad raised an eyebrow. "You're just afraid you won't be able to make it."

"What? I could too!"

"Then show me."

"Fine! I will!"

"Good, then it's settled. We're flying back."

Dark opened his mouth to speak, and realized he'd just been bated. He snapped his jaw shut, and glared at Krad. "I'll get you for that."

Krad smirked in response. "I dare you to try."

With a playful snarl, Dark leapt at the blonde, who dodged nimbly out of the way. "You'll have to be quicker than that, thief." He swiftly walked to the other side of the room, and tossed open the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. Dark followed, and when Krad released his wings, so did Dark call upon his less used black wings.

"Later, boys!" Krad shouted before leaping off the railing and into the air. Dark followed without so much as a goodbye, as he was far too focused on his prey at the moment.

The two younger boys were left staring blankly as the curtains settled back into place after the disturbance.

"Well…" Satoshi started

Daisuke chuckled. "Krad seems to have fun goading Dark like that."

"A little too much fun…" Satoshi answered, shaking his head. "Guess we'll be seeing them back home then."

"Yeah." Daisuke agreed. "And we still have half of our vacation left to enjoy worry-free!"

Satoshi smiled in return and pressed a soft kiss to Daisuke's lips. "That we do."

- - - - - - - - - -

When Takashi and the Harada twins confronted them later, Satoshi told them only the bare necessities to sate their curiosity, and was glad when they mostly left him alone after that. Occasionally Daisuke would go off to play with them, such as the game night that night. Satoshi had opted to stay off the field and cheer from the sidelines. But mostly Daisuke spent his time with Satoshi, discovering his newfound relationship with the other boy.

The rest of the vacation was quite enjoyable in fact, and Satoshi could honestly say he'd never been happier. Even people he never spoke to seemed to notice, as the girls suddenly found him more approachable. Satoshi found this quite amusing, since every time one of his fan girls would approach him, Daisuke would glare and say they were busy, then proceed to drag him off somewhere away from everyone else. He thought it quite endearing in fact.

When their wonderful vacation did finally end, the two boys were completely refreshed and felt as if they could take on the world.

After the busses dropped them back off at the school, they gathered their stuff, and Satoshi walked to Daisuke's house with him to drop him off. He hadn't planned to stay, and was quite surprised when Daisuke's mother invited him in. In fact, he realized he should be surprised to see her there at all, since all of Daisuke's relatives had been gone before.

Dark and Krad both were seated at the kitchen table, waiting for the feast that Emiko had cooked for them all as a welcome back.

They discussed many things through dinner, and Emiko confessed that they had left because they were afraid of the effect too many Niwas being near the Gem would have. She had known that something about the Niwa line was significant with the Gem, she just hadn't known what, and was quite surprised when she found out everything Daisuke had gone through. She apologized profusely and hugged Daisuke near the point of suffocating, which of course all the others just laughed at.

When Satoshi asked why she accepted him and Krad so easily into her home, she mentioned that her and the two spirits had sat down and talked for a long while.

In a sudden realization, Daisuke had proudly proclaimed, "I won't have to steal stuff anymore!"

Everyone had laughed, and Satoshi said, "What about you, Dark?"

Dark replied with a mischievous grin and said, "Just try and stop me."

Krad took up the obvious challenge, and Satoshi realized that Krad could probably do a better job than he had. Maybe he would get a chance to lay off the police work a bit…and spend more time with Daisuke. He sent a smile to his recent boyfriend through Dark and Krad's bickering, and Daisuke smiled shyly back.

It was wonderful, Satoshi decided, the feeling of belonging to someone. He had always hated it because of Krad, but now he realized what it truly meant to give yourself to someone completely, and to have them in return.

After the grand meal, and talking late into the night, Satoshi returned to his apartment with Krad, while Dark stayed with the Niwas. There were promises by the boys to visit the others frequently, and the moment Satoshi was out the door, he found himself already looking forward to the next time he saw Daisuke.

Yes, love is indeed a wonderful feeling.

- - - - - - - -

Awww. See? Told you there would be fluff. Hehe, anyway, I'll leave it up to your own imagination what Dark and Krad did while left alone. I mean, they could've been playing tic-tac-toe for all you know::grins::

Anyway…it really doesn't feel like I should be finished. But that could possibly be the fact that this is the first multi-chapter story I've ever finished. Ever. Wow. Yay me! And hopefully I can hit a hundred reviews with this one. That would be simply amazing. Especially since my last semi-serious story didn't come near that number. (That's also probably cuz it sucked though. Ha.)

And I hope the ending doesn't feel too rushed. The summary style is only half because I became lazy. Haha, give me _some_ credit at least! I think it also gives it that epilogue feel. So, as usual, tell me what you thought and all that jazz.

And one more great big ::huggles:: to all my reviewers! Much much much much much love. Daisukiiiiiiii::grins::


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